Psalm 14

To the chief musician,
A Psalm of David.

1 The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they have done abominable works,
there is none that doeth good.

2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men,
to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

5 They were in great fear;
for God is in the generation of the righteous.

6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor,
because the LORD is his refuge.

7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!
When the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people,
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

JW: The atheism and corruption of mankind, ver. 1-3; an expostulation with sinners, ver. 4-6; a prayer for the salvation of God, ver. 7.

[On verse 2:] 'Looked' - God knoweth all things without an enquiry: but he speaks after the manner of men. 'Upon' - upon the whole Israelitish nation, and upon all mankind for he speaks of all except his people, and the righteous ones, who are opposed to these, ver. 4, 5.

[On verse 4:] 'Bread' - with as little remorse, and with as much greediness. 'Call not' - they are guilty not only of gross injustice towards men, but also of horrid impiety and contempt of God.

[On verse 6:] 'Because' - this was the ground of their contempt, that he lived by faith in God's promise and providence.

[On verse 7:] 'O that' - These words immediately concern the deliverance of Israel out of that sinful state, in which they now were; which having described, he concludes, with a prayer to God to help them out of Zion, where the ark then was, but principally they design the spiritual redemption and salvation of all God's Israel by the Messiah.

A Psalm against outspoken atheists who belittle or persecute those who would be silly or ignorant enough to profess belief in a deity. Or so it might seem. But something about this psalm haunts. It's those three words that are easily missed if we immediately jump to the philosophical debate between theists and atheists. Those three words: in his [or her] heart. Brennan Manning notably quipped (and was quoted by dc Talk in the seconds before the track 'What If I Stumble?'): "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle." That statement may be true. But another one that may be equally or more true would be to amend 'cause' to 'evidence.' The fool says in the heart that there is no God. It is practical atheism in view. Even though Wesley didn't say anything of that in his notes here, he was known to speak against this sort of atheism than the atheism of the philosophical arena. If I acknowledge Jesus with my lips but really don't live as though God exists, wouldn't that make me an atheist, really?

Ricky Gervais posted an article a few days before Christmas about why he's an atheist. The turning point came when he was 8 years old and his 19-year-old brother asked him a question. Here's the way he described it:

I was happily drawing [a picture of Jesus] when my big brother Bob asked, 'Why do you believe in God?' Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. 'Bob,' she said in a tone that I knew meant, 'Shut up.' Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn't matter what people said. Oh...hang on. There is no God. [Bob] knows it and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.

Now whether or not his assessment of his mother's intentions or beliefs were accurate, his estimation is fair. His perception was that his mom, in her heart, said there was no God. The heart is what circulates blood, which is life. If my living conveys there is no God, then my heart says the same. All of this is not to discount to the philosophical debate of God's existence as unimportant, but philosophy is not the point of this psalm. And in the end I think that the moral argument is perhaps the best one for this age and where I think Gervais' argument philosophically falls flat. He suggests in conclusion that though there is no God, we should still be "nice." Why do good? And how do you determine what is good or nice?

Returning to the Psalm. Atheists, in this psalm, eat up God's people as one would eat bread. I think Wesley has an accurate comment on that, as lacking remorse and being filled with greed. Consumerism. When the church falls prey to it, we neglect the poor and are nothing short of being atheists in the world because there is no remorse and it is the epitome of greediness. So yes, take Ricky Gervais' advice...be nice. Better yet, take it a step further. Be compassionate. Because there is a God and this God seeks for the good of the other, sides with those who are belittled, neglected, and oppressed, (look at the Incarnation...and its correspondence with verse 7 of this Psalm) and wants us to do the same.