Oxygen from Psalm 14 (The Atheist Twist)

 1 Only fools say in their hearts,    

      “There is no God.” 

   They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; 

      not one of them does good!

 2 The LORD looks down from heaven 

      on the entire human race; 

   he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, 

      if anyone seeks God. 

 3 But no, all have turned away; 

      all have become corrupt. 

   No one does good, 

      not a single one!

 4 Will those who do evil never learn? 

      They eat up my people like bread 

      and wouldn’t think of praying to the LORD. 

 5 Terror will grip them, 

      for God is with those who obey him. 

 6 The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, 

      but the LORD will protect his people.

 7 Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? 

      When the LORD restores his people, 

      Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

(Psalm 14)

Heavenly Father:

I struggled to understand this Psalm,

read it two or three times a day,

and every time I read it through

and every time I prayed,

You seemed to answer, "I will make it plain

in a way you'll know it's Me."

I studied the original tongue,

the Hebrew grammar's really rough.

No atheists lived in David's time,

except a few Greek philsophes.

But in the Levant to say or think

there was no God was like saying

there is no sea, or sky, or King.

I read commentaries by Bible scholars,

hoping to decode the 14th's meaning

when You grabbed me by the collar

and quite by "chance" I read online

what spun me 'round like a silver dollar,

and I knew that it was truly You.

For there on my computer screen,

was a commentary on Psalm 14

written by of all things ... an atheist!

How like God, I thought,

to show his power with a twist

of irony and sovereign grace.

Fed up with Christians who called him fool,

he learned to read the holy texts

and master the use of literary tools.

He dug to find what words really meant

during the time of David's rule.

And I, applying prayer and Spirit,

I think I got it at long last.

(I thought it was really cool

that God could use an atheist,

though he certainly was not a "fool"

to teach His living, holy word,

and answer my burning question,

and provide the fuel

to light my evangelical fire.)

Listen -- though we love the Psalms,

they were written not for us,

but primarily for our Christ; 

providing, like an ancient map,

signposts to God's righteous will,

at time of great religious corruption.

The focus of this song emotional

was for Jesus' daily devotional 

the contrast of rich and pious poor;

how God looked down and deeply deplored

how Judaism had been degraded,

run by Temple raconteurs,

replaced justice with success.

Lots of nice religious folks

may memorize and mutter creeds

but live as atheists functionally,

ignoring all Your holy pleas.

No one seeks Your truth or wisdom, 

everyone does just what they please,

and, as in Noah's time, for Jesus

righteousness came down to one.

Jesus found his buried treasure

in these words from long ago,

affirmation of his mssion,

confirmation He can not trust the system,

The Temple must be cleansed,

the status quo, not reformed, torn down,

if God would restore joy to Israel.

"God is with those who obey Him,"

David sings in Jesus' ear,

Priests and Phraisees will threaten,

but, God's Anointed, have no fear,

there's nothing God wants salvaged here,

except the people's restoration.

It was one of Satan's lies

to Jesus at Mount Temptation:

"Bow down and worship me" really meant,

work within the organization,

don't cause trouble or threaten unity

with your individuality.

Conform or die!

But this Psalm told our Savior,

the system put in place by man,

will be destroyed and abandoned,

it is not part of the Father's plan.

So when rejected and placed under priestly ban

He did not fear or soften His stance.

What are the essentials of Godly faith

that we dare not contravene?

Loyalty to a leader, church or denomination?

Don't upset our friends and our comfortable traditions?

No, none of these, 

but three realities:

One, the revealed Father, Son, and Spirit,

known to us in Trinity;

Two, the Bible as our only spiritual authority,

and, Three, the way of grace to righteousness,

not works.

And should we find ourselves enmeshed

with those who lay alongside Your Word

another spiritual authority they say we need

to read and understand the Scriptures;

or, by good works we increase our faith, 

or heavenly merit hope to gain,

help us witness to Your truth

and like Jesus, go and praying,

find You laughing somewhere near

with your blood-bought people dear.

Amen.