The True Atheist is Either Foolish or Wicked

Commentary

The true atheist is either foolish or wicked (vv. 1-3). He is foolish because he ignores the evidence that God exists or wicked because he refuses to live by God’s truths. We become atheists in practice when we rely more on ourselves than on God. In surveying all history, the psalmist concludes that after the fall of man, no one has ever existed whom God could describe as morally good. “The fool has said in his heart there is no God” (v. 1). “The fool,” as it is referred to in this passage speaks of one who is normally insensitive rather than a person who is weak in intellect. It is obvious that man is a brilliant creature as he has developed the technology to even put a man on the moon. But the same unregenerate man is a fool in his thinking toward God. 

When I went to school, I was sometimes given a test where the teachers would “grade on a curve."  This meant that the person receiving the highest mark would receive an “A” and the lowest would get a failing mark while all the others fit in between. This system gives the underachieving student a better chance to pass. God does not grade on a curve. His standards are absolute. He has only two grades: “good” for absolute perfection and “failure” for anything else. That is why he says: “there is none that do good, no not one” (v. 3). It isn’t any wonder that the average unregen­erate man hates the Bible! However, attacking the Bible because it tells the truth is like kicking an x-ray machine because the picture reveals an internal cancer.

The righteous calls on the Lord and He answers (v. 4). God dwells with these people (v. 5), protects them (v. 6), and gives them hope (v. 7). The ungodly make fun of the godly about the existence of God. Yet, the very Jehovah who the fool claims does not exist is the refuge for those who put their trust in Him. Natural enough is it to see this closing prayer, for nothing would reveal the folly of the fool more than the salvation of Israel.

Application

Perhaps I have never verbally said that there is no God, but have I ever ignored God’s Word and went on doing my own thing to the point I was acting like an atheist who says there was no God?