Psalms of Lament
Tuesday March 29, 2022
Created by Wesley Hammond
Psalm 53
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on God.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.
6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Devotion
The psalms are a topic that people hear plenty about but relatively few people know what they are really talking about. The psalms are poems that are each written by various individuals in Biblical history such as Moses, David, and Solomon. They express various degrees and facets of feeling and emotion such as lamentation or adoration. In fact, there is a psalm for basically any situation in your life and as such, psalms are one of those books in the Bible that are referred to and quoted very often. Psalm fifty three tells us that there are those who do not believe in God, those individuals have turned away from the light, and act on their beliefs and have thus become corrupted. Corruption in the Bible is referring to a person’s spiritual state of being. A person who is corrupt is not focused on doing God’s will rather they are focused on following their own path, a path which inevitably leads to even more suffering. Anyone can become corrupted as seen when the Hebrews camped at Mount Sinai to await Moses’ return with the stone tablets. Moses had been away for so long that the Hebrews who had been freed from bondage by God Himself had turned away from Him and worshiped a golden calf idol. If people who had lived during a time of such great and powerful miracles and important individuals could become corrupted then anyone can. But psalm fifty three also tells us that those who believe in God and hold to their faith will have their enemies scattered from them. God lets us encounter hardship as they help us grow as people, but God never gives us more than we can handle. God expects great things from you but God doesn’t expect impossible things. Psalm fifty three teaches us to hold on to our faith even when we are surrounded by corruption and faithlessness as our loyalty will be rewarded and God always fulfills promises.
Prayer
Patient God, be with us not only when we are faithful, but also correct us when we fall into temptation, that we might return to the life that you’ve called us to live. Amen.
