Psalm Saturday: Psalm 14

Psalm 14

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?

There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.

You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
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Have you ever done something wrong because you didn't think anyone would see you? I think most of us have been in that situation at some point.

Psalm 14 reminds us that God is constantly looking down on us, seeing our every move. David says that he looks at us to see if there are any of us who are wise enough to seek after God instead of living a life of sin.

The findings of David are pretty bleak. He states that "they have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." Sounds a lot like today, doesn't it? I'm not one to say that our world is getting worse and worse, but I do know that sin is rampant in today's culture (just like it was 100 years ago). People just don't seem to care about God anymore. In fact, I know a lot of so-called Christians who could care less about God, too.

It's time that we realized that God is there, and that he cares about what we do. According to David, he is seeking a generation of the righteous, a people that will follow him. It is true that none of us are righteous, as David said in the previous verse. However, God gives us grace through the blood of Christ. We are counted as righteous, we are seen as being clean. But, so many times we reject that gift and try to live life of our own accord, doing our own thing.

Salvation cannot be found in this world. It cannot be found in its pleasures, either. Salvation can only come from the Lord, and the Lord requires righteousness, not as a prerequisite to grace, but as a result of it.

It's time we started living like God's watching us.