Psalm 36

1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4 He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he abhors not evil.

5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preserves man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

10 O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise. (KJV)

I. Sinfulness of the wicked
no fear of God
he flatters himself
Does not detect or hate his sin
his mouth is wicked and deceitful
he has ceased to be wise and to do good
Even on his bed he plots evil
he commits himself to a sinful course
does not reject what is wrong

II. Lord’s provisions
your love reaches to the heavens
your faithfulness reaches to the skies
your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
your justice like the great deep
you preserve both man and beast
your unfailing love is priceless
your wings provide refuge for men both high and low
they feast on the abundance of your house
they drink from your river of delights
with you is the fountain of life
in your light we see light

III. Summary
Continue your love to those who know you
your righteousness to the upright in heart
may the foot of the proud not come against me
may the hand of the wicked not drive me away
the evildoers lie fallen thrown down, not able to rise!

This psalm was written by David as an oracle (any utterance made or received as authoritative, extremely wise, or infallible) concerning the sinfulness of the wicked. For us the study of the sinfulness of man begins in Genesis chapter three with the temptation in the Garden. The three individuals involved were Adam, Eve and the serpent. It involved a simple decision to follow a command, “If you eat or touch the fruit of tree which is in the middle of the garden, you will die”. They did break the command and when they did their eyes where open and they saw their nakedness and attempted to cover it with fig leaves. They now became like God knowing good and evil. The outcome of breaking God’s command was death, however, God delayed death and made provisions for Adam and Eve to live. Yes, there were curses, but there were also provisions. As a believer makes his or her daily walk in this world probably the biggest challenge that he or she will face along their path is the same challenge that Eve faced. This challenge can be found in the simple word “but”. Just as Satan challenge Eve trust in God those around us challenge our faith in God today. It is this challenge that those around us question our understanding of God and present the “but” questions to challenge our understanding of God’s way. It seems that the more we walk with God the more we have to defend our relationship to him to those around us. In this Psalm we see the sinfulness of the wicked those who oppose God and has let pride become their necklace. However, in this Psalm we also see the Lord’s provisions to those who know Him. One of the main challenges we seem to face from the world is the belief that God takes care of those who take care of themselves. The problem with this belief is that it is a path for man to flatter himself on the way he follows God, which leads him to the point of not seeing our sinfulness. This leads to a path of reasoning about all issues of life which places man in charge of our life which leads to a course of sin and this soon leads to the rejection of the Lord and His provisions. The escape from this path is to know the Lord and to walk in his righteousness. For the believer this means being more Christ-like.

How the free will of an individual and the will of God interact is a mystery that mankind battles with daily. However, this weekend as I was studying C. S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity his statements that atheism was “too simple” and “Christianity”, is water down faith, could not explain the world in which we live. The battle of Good verses Bad was also the wrong approach to take in looking at the world in which we live. After reading his writings his weekend I realized that the true battle is the rebellion of Satan and the evil forces here on earth against God and that we as Christians are really “living in enemy territory”. If this is the case, then verses two through four would describe the enemy” For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.” If this is the case, then how important is it for believers to live in the shadow of God’s wings. To better understand the free will of an individual and how the individual will interact with God’s will we must turn to the creator of both who is God.

As I was studying the book The Battle is the Lord’s by Tony Evans this oracle speaks loudly not only of the sinful man, but also the sinfulness of Satan. As I study this book, I ask myself the question “why did not God just destroy Satan as soon as Satan rebelled against God?”. If he had done that then Satan could not have tempted Eve and she would not have offered the fruit to Adam. But we know that this did not happen. There is a reason why God has chosen the path of dealing with Satan as well as the sin of mankind. The more I understand this battle the more I understand the battles in my own life.

As I read and study the Psalms, I realize that living a Christ-like life is easy until I have to put down the Bible and move into the real world and face your daily routines. It is only when we as believers take God’s written Word and make it God’s living Word in our hearts that we can answer the “but” questions from those around us with an affirmative answer just as Christ did to Satan “But it is written”.