Psalm 53:1-6 NKJV
53 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
5 There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.
6 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
Psalm 53, which is almost word for word the same as Psalm 14, teaches us that it is foolhardy to say that there is no God. The atheists in this world spend tremendous amounts of energy insisting that the very God who created this world and who, in fact, brought them to life doesn’t exist. It’s as silly as someone pounding on a table and saying, “This table isn’t here!” Indeed, foolish…deadly and eternally foolish.
There IS a God, and He is the only true God who gave His Son into death to pay for the sins of all mankind. To reject this God and to say He doesn’t exist is to reject His offer of salvation and eternal life which He makes to all. There can be no foolhardier thing than that.
Of this psalm, as well as Ps 14, Martin Luther says, “…both [psalms] rebuke the faithless work-saints, who persecute the true doctrine and the true teachers. At the end, it proclaims the Gospel and kingdom of Christ…” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 128).
Persecution of the true teachings and teachers of Scripture will continue to take place in this world up until the time of our Lord’s triumphant return on the Last Day. This is nothing new, so we take heart that God in His wisdom has already declared the outcome of our faith in Christ – eternal life in the life of the world to come. The foolish atheist cannot say that; they only have this life as a reward, but their eternal existence will be one of hellish torment forever. “They are in great fear where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against You” (v. 5).
Rejoice in the gift of your salvation while at the same time weep and pray for the atheists and other unbelievers who reject God’s promises and have only eternal doom ahead.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing me to the one true faith, and bring to repentance and faith those who do not know you, that we may rejoice together; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.