READ: Ps. 14:1–7: The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ … There is none who does good, No, not one. … God is with the generation of the righteous. … Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
A fool is he or she who can know, and therefore does know, that God exists, but chooses to deny this. Paul makes this clear in Rom. 1:18ff. Everyone, learned or not, is acquainted with what may be known of God, namely His eternal power and Godhead, which from Creation are clearly seen, even by children.
People thus know God but do not glorify Him or give thanks for His works. No one is excusable if he or she does not acknowledge God. Professing to be wise, they become fools (v.1; Rom. 1:22).
In 1 Cor. 1:18–21 Paul writes that the wisdom of the world does not come to know God. Thus it was the case for the great majority in David’s time, in Paul’s time, and it is the same in our time.
Why does one choose to be foolish? Because one has gone astray, become corrupt (vv.1,3; cf. Rom. 1:18, 21, 25). One exchanges the truth for the lie and acts corruptly with abominable deeds. Nabal is a model of such a fool (1 Sam. 25:25).
God gives His judgment from heaven upon the sons of men. They all prove to have gone astray, become corrupt. There is none who understands, who does good, or who calls upon the LORD. None at all—not even the believer—is by nature wise and God-centered.
Only by God’s grace do His children know and honour Him. He will bless and strengthen them to be able to stand in a godless world. He will deliver them from the hands of their enemies.
When David names the great privilege that humble believers have the LORD as their refuge, he exclaims: “Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!” (v.7). With this he points believers to the place where atonement takes place, at the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem, by which Christ is already prefigured.
We read the same reference in Isa. 59:20 and Rom. 11:26. Thus there is reason for great joy.
What does it mean: God has chosen the “foolish” things of the world?
Singing: Ps. 14:2,5