Psalm 14:3: “They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one.”
I remember in Bible College I had a class on How To Study the Bible. Our instructor told us we need to read the Bible like we read a love letter. We read the first line: “Dear John…” Immediately we question: “Why did she say ‘Dear’ and not ‘Dearest’ or ‘My dear?’ Is she losing interest? Has the passion gone out of our relationship?”
I look at the Bible like a love letter and when I read a Psalm like Psalm 14 I wonder: “Is God angry with us, does He hate us? Why is He so harsh with us?” You read this Psalm and it is like he considers us completely worthless slime and but for His salvation we would all be a bunch of irresponsible gangsters shooting someone who looks cross eyed at us.
This is some love letter. You certainly are not going to make many points with a potential lover by calling him a toad and blasting him out of the water, and then announcing that thanks to your presence and influence on his life you saved him. I think God could use a little PR work here.
I remember reading where the worst form of communication is by memo or e-mail. The reason for that is because you cannot hear the voice of the person you are trying to communicate with or look into their eyes. If your boss sent you an e-mail saying; “Well, you really messed that up good, didn’t you?” You are going to lose sleep that night wondering if your boss was really angry with you and ready to give up on you or was he just joking. I recall when I worked insurance claims our boss wrote in one of my co-worker’s files, “This file is a piece of crap.” Then he went on vacation. My co-worker was in tears but when the boss returned he was perplexed by my co-worker’s concern. He said her work on the file was outstanding, he just meant the claim had absolutely no merit.
We face the same problem in reading the Bible. Since we do not see God or hear Him speak, we are never really sure if he is ready to potty train us with lightning bolts or He simply has a boys will be boys attitude. Your interpretation of an e-mail or memo will often depend upon the intimacy of your relationship with the person writing the memo. If you and your boss always go out to lunch together and are joking together you may smile when you read the memo about “messing up.” However, if your boss is distant and aloof you may brush up your resume and sign into Career Builder’s.com.
For many people God is an aloof and distant God and thus Psalms 14 becomes a real indictment and creates fear in us that we can do nothing that is good to appease an angry God other than accept His salvation.
I find that as I continue my journey to God’s heart, I am beginning to see how pure His heart is and how inadequate I am to reflect His light. Isaiah 4:6 tells us that all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Oh my there is that word filthy again. The word in the Hebrew is ’alach which means to be corrupted or spoiled. To be corrupted or spoiled means there is an authoritative party that is being taken advantage of. So when God is saying that we are ‘alach filthy or spoiled He is saying that He is the authority that we are taking advantage of. When a child is spoiled it means he is simply taking advantage of his parents love. Thus when we are spoiled what we are doing is taking advantage of God’s love. We know He loves us, that he will forgive us so what the heck, why not indulge in some sinful passion, He loves us and He will forgive us. God is recognizing that the very nature of His perfect love, runs the risk of spoiling us. The word for filthy or spoiled is spelled Aleph, Lamed, and Chet. The Aleph teaches us that we can become ambivalent and see only one side of the picture, that is our side and our needs and not even consider the needs of the one who loves us. We just know that He loves us and if He loves us, then He will give us health, wealth and happiness. If He does not then He is just being a mean God and that proves He does not love us, just the way a spoiled child would act. Sometimes we act like that little child. “God if you loved me you would do this for me, you love me not.” Yes sir, we will show Him, we will hit Him where it hurts the most, by making Him feel guilty that He does not really love us. The Lamed tells us that God’s love can get out of hand, we can become driven, never satisfied, always crying out to God for more and never being thankful for what we have, just like a spoiled child. Finally the Chet warns us against always indulging in arrogance and rudeness. Like a spoil child we hold God’s love against Him. We dangle His love over His head and say, “You say you love me well prove it. If you don’t answer my prayer I will tell everyone you are a bad God and child welfare will come out and you will see, you will get yours.”
Indeed the picture I see in Psalms 14 is a revelation of God’s heart. He is showing Himself as a loving parent, wanting to give us everything we desire and yet knowing how easily spoiled we can and do become. The picture is not one of an angry God ready to shower us with fire and brim stone, but as a parent, wringing his hands saying: “I love them so much, I have given them everything and yet all they want is more and it is as if they despise Me.”
The last word I wish to mention is one I have spoken often about. It is the word good. “There is none that do good.” That sounds like an awful indictment, yet the word good or tov in Hebrew simply means to be in harmony with God. When we act like a spoil brat: “God gimme this or do this or why do you do that? Or you don’t love me because you…” that is not exactly my idea of being in harmony with God.
Being in harmony means being the good child, the one that accepts what his parents give him or will not give him. He is grateful and is always ready to give his parents a big hung for no other reason other than they are his parents and he loves them.
So go ahead, read Psalms 14:3 based upon your relationship with God. If you find Him a distant and aloof God then this verse is saying we are just no good and of no value. If you have drawn close to the heart of God and actually visited the heart of God you might read the verse entirely different. He is a God of total love and I am just an awful spoiled brat taking advantage of His love and as a result I am totally out of harmony with Him. The fault dear reader lies not in God but in ourselves and our childlike selfishness.
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