Category: devotional

Worship is a Result of Forgiveness

pastortravislv

Why do we sing? What makes us praise? As a people, the things that we do are strange. I am not sure that many in the world understand why we would do what we do, especially when it comes to getting together and singing on a Sunday morning.

Of course, there are multiple reasons that we sing. We sing because God commanded us to do so. We may sing because we genuinely enjoy singing with others. We sing, because it teaches us truth. We sing because, well, we have always sung.

Psalm 51:14

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

Psalm 51 is one of those famous Psalms. It is the one where David is writing after a major sin. It has those popular lines that we know like, “Against you and you only have I sinned,” and “Create in me a clean heart.” But what got my attention as I recently read it was this little verse about singing.

What is David saying? Is David making a deal with God? If you’ll forgive me, I’ll sing you a song. No, that is not what is going on. God is not going to have us purchase his forgiveness with promises. We cannot pay him anything, including obedience, to earn grace.

I think something much better is going on here. David is making it clear that he knows that singing, true and joyful singing, is a proper human response to being forgiven. David knows that genuine joy is to be found in knowing that our sins are covered. We will sing as we realize that God has cleansed us from a genuine guilt.

Singing and other acts of worship, acts that confuse the world around us, are right responses to the grace of God. You see, unlike the rest of the world, we know ourselves to be guilty, really guilty, before the Lord. We know we have earned wrath from God. But, as believers, we also know that our sins have been covered by the astoundingly lovely sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. God chose to save us. God sent his Son who did the work to save us. The Son of God declares us to be his before his Father. And in doing so, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of God. We are transitioned from being destined for hell to being eternally destined for heaven. We Move from being lost to forgiven.

What is the right response to all that? We should love the Lord. We should sing. We should praise. We should bow and pray and weep in gratitude. We should magnify the Lord, the Holy One, who loved us enough to make us his own.

Why do we sing? One reason is that we are forgiven. That is surely enough.

Is That Really Fair?

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Do you recall how Moses ended? It is a sad story, really. Moses was born in Egypt, taken by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised like a prince. At age 40, he tried to be a help to his people and found himself running for his life in the desert. He spent 40 years as a shepherd, returned to Egypt at the prompting of God, and began to lead the people. For 40 years afterward, he led a stubborn and rebellious people through a harsh wilderness.

And Moses made one mistake. He lost it one time. God told Moses to speak to a rock and bring water out of it. Moses was at the end of his rope. The people were on his nerves. Moses struck the rock instead of speaking. And that was enough for God to say to Moses that he would not be allowed to cross the Jordan into the promised land. One gaff, and Moses dies in the wilderness like the rest.

My question: Is that really fair?

Deuteronomy 32:48-52 – 48 That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Is God’s judgment on Moses fair here? Or is this a little too harsh?

Can you sense that I’m asking a trick question? Perhaps you can. And perhaps you expect me to follow it up with a defense of the judgment of God on Moses. But here is the actual point: Asking that question is wrong.

Yes, asking if God did something rightly is a wrong question. In order to ask that question, you must set yourself in a position to somehow evaluate the actions, choices, and values of the Lord. You must set yourself up in a position to be able to examine evidence, compare it to a standard, and measure justly. But, dear friend and human being, you cannot do so.

God is the standard of holiness. There is nothing outside of God that measures right and wrong. God is always right by definition. And the moment I try to examine his actions, I must immediately ask myself by what standard I will judge right. I cannot judge by my own measure, as God is greater than me, holy in every way. I cannot measure by another person’s standard, as all are infinitely lesser than the Lord. The only perfect measure of righteousness we have is, get this, God and God’s holy word. God is perfection. Thus, his actions, whether we like or understand them in our limited capacity, are always, absolutely, completely, infinitely perfect.

Do I like Moses’ end? That does not matter. God is holy. God is right. God therefore always judges rightly. And if I am uncomfortable with a judgment of God, I am the one who must come to grips with righteousness, God is already there.

O, and if Moses’ end really bothers you, remember that it is an infinite, a hell-worthy offense, to treat God as anything less than utterly holy. That God would forgive Moses of his sin and save his soul is well beyond fair. God owes Moses nothing more. And I assure you, when Jesus spoke with Moses on the mount of transfiguration, Moses was not complaining.

Law as a Gift

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What do you think of when you think of the law of God? Do you think of something mysterious and perhaps ugly? Do you think of standards that nobody can meet? Do you feel a little repulsed by the bloody sacrifices and odd laws about diet and blended fabrics?

If the law of God is off-putting to you, there is something that is missing in your understanding of what the Lord did for his people. Look at the words that Moses speaks to Israel as he finishes reiterating the law before the people entered into the promised land.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 – 11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

See what Moses emphasizes about the law of God. First, he tells the people that this law is not too hard for them. Stop and read that again. Moses said it is not too hard for them. This law was not impossible for the nation to follow. It is not impossible for a nation to not eat the foods God forbids. It is not impossible for a nation to exercise actual justice. It is not impossible for a nation to refrain from casting and worshiping idols. It is not impossible for a people to obey God’s standards for marriage, sexuality, gender, and family. It is not impossible to refrain from cruelty and to do kindness. It is not impossible to love God and love neighbor.

This requires a quick note. No, God is not saying that the people of the land can live out the kind of righteousness that would make them enter into his favor as individuals under the covenant of works. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The law does expose for us how much less than perfect we are. But, as a nation, as a people, living as a society, these laws are not too hard. And the people who live under these laws will live as a prosperous nation, the people of god, who would eventually birth the Messiah into the world. These same people also have the temple system and its sacrifices which help them to find salvation by God’s grace through faith as they obey his commands to sacrifice animals which point to the ultimate and perfect sacrifice of Jesus. This is how the law is not too hard.

Then Moses points out that the law is not distant. God has not kept his standards a secret in heaven. No mythical hero has to climb a ladder into the clouds to find out how not to incur the wrath of God. Nor does a sacred ship need to be commissioned to traverse the seas to go and find the law. No, the law of God is right there. Moses has told them. The people can speak it. The people can read it. The people can love it in their hearts. The law of God is revealed.

That, dear friends, is a tremendous gift. God giving us the rules is grace. How? What if he did not? What if God told us just to please him, but then he still enacted justice based on his standards? Our natural instinct is not righteousness. Our reflex is not holiness. We would make choices that damn us all because our ways are not the Lord’s ways. That God would give his rules to us is a kindness beyond anything we can imagine. He tells us what he demands. He tells us what is just. He told the Israelites how to sacrifice to have their sins covered. He tells us now how to trust in the sacrifice of Jesus to be forgiven. Those commands, that word, is a treasure worth more than anything else on earth.

With those thoughts in mind, perhaps you will reconsider how you feel when you think of the law of God. It is not too hard. It is not far away. The law of God was given to the people of God to help them to love God and live in his favor. For Christians who have a completed canon of Scripture, we must love the word of God from beginning to end.

Bloodguilt on a Land

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In the law of God, we learn much about the value of human life. In several instances, we see that God demands a reckoning for the shedding of the blood of mankind. If a man kills another, even accidentally, his life is changed forever. And, in the passage I read in my daily reading from Deuteronomy 21, we see that God demands that leaders take responsibility for the loss of life, even if they bear no personal responsibility for that death.

Deuteronomy 21:1-9- 1 If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. 3 And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. 4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. 6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. 8 Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ 9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

This statute is pretty straightforward. If a body is found, but nobody can determine who did the murder, the leadership of the nearest town takes responsibility. They have to take a special heifer, sacrifice it, and then declare formally that they did not do the murder or know who did.

Take special note of verse 8, “Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.” Bloodguilt must be atoned for. Failure to do so is a stain on the land. And it is a big deal for a people to bear the guilt of shedding innocent blood.

Here is a good example of an Old Testament law we need not attempt to follow by the letter, but from which we can extract universal principles. Jesus has died the final sacrificial death that will do anything to atone for human guilt. Thus, there is no offering that any people should make for bloodguilt. But so much is clearly true. We should realize that murder is serious. We should realize that it is bad for a people to bear the guilt of shedding innocent blood. And, I think that it would be easy to extract from this that we ought to do all we can to stop the shedding of innocent blood so that our land is not storing up wrath against it.

Note that when we talk about the shedding of innocent blood, we are not declaring the victim of a murder as innocent of all human sin. The point is that blood is shed unjustly. A person is killed without having committed a crime that is worthy of the death penalty. That is the shedding of innocent blood.

Now, look at our world. Look at our nation. We are guilty of the shedding of innocent blood. Unborn children by the millions are slaughtered. They have committed no crime. They are not dying for the taking of other human lives. They are dying, in the vast majority of cases, for the mere convenience of another. These little human bodies are crushed and then torn apart in the name of sexual freedom.

There is no longer a heifer that we can sacrifice, wash our hands, and say that we did not know. We, in our land, do know. WE know exactly who are those who are taking lives by the millions. We know why it is happening. And we, as a nation, bear that guilt. WE must wonder how much innocent blood the Lord will allow to be shed before we fall. Christians, pray. Pray that the Lord will help us put an end to the shedding of innocent blood in our land. If in Israel, the finding of a dead body in the countryside was a big enough deal to require a formal statement from the nearest city leaders, accompanied by a sacrifice, in order to atone for bloodguilt, how much more bloodguilt is on a nation that willingly, often exuberantly, takes the lives of children every single day? We do not need a heifer. We need to repent and to turn to Jesus for his mercy.

Not That Way

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Here is a simple yet significant warning. Be careful attempting to worship the Lord in the way that seems most natural to you. Why? As a sinful human being, your choices, your natural instincts, your most comfortable ideas are apt to be wrong. It is very possible that a person might come up with a sincere plan to please God. The plan may seem logical and even meaningful. But, if it is not in accord with the will of God, that plan will be nothing but offensive to God.\

I thought of this while reading through Deuteronomy. Take note of the warning God gives Israel early on in his reiteration of his law regarding worship.

Deuteronomy 12:1-4 1 “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.

God told the people that, when they enter the land to possess it, they are to physically destroy Canaanite temples. Why? Look to the final verse. God tells the people, “You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.” Why would God have to make this statement? It is because the people would have naturally chosen to worship in that way. God was warning them, not against something that was no temptation, but against something that is the most common of human temptations. God was warning them not to worship in a way of their own devising.

Friends, the truth is that we will very naturally come up with all sorts of things we think must be great ideas for worshipping the Lord. But God had to warn people early on not to come up with new plans, new strategies, new methods of worshipping him. God had a very clear will as to how he should be worshipped.

Does that bother you? He is God after all. God has every right to say what pleases him and what does not. God is in no way obligated to accept human worship at all. God is certainly not obligated to accept human worship which he finds offensive. And God is not obligated to be pleased with our ideas for worship. This truth is doubled when we realize that God has told us how to please him in his word. God gave Israel instructions in the desert. God has given his church instructions in the first century. How dare we determine to go our own way?

But, beware. The reason the command had to be given is that it is in our sinful nature to attempt to worship in ways that do not please the Lord. Remember, the thing that made Cain most angry early on was the fact that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and his was not. Remember that Aaron’s two sons died for offering a fire to the Lord that the Lord did not authorize. Remember, from right here in Deuteronomy, that God had to warn the people not to worship like the Canaanites. Understand that, if you leave things to your own best ideas, if your worship is not governed by the word of God, you will displease the Lord in the very act of what you think is worship.

An Example of Fearing God Rightly

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In Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the nation of Israel of her history and the covenant between the Lord and the people. Of course, early in that reminder is the account of the giving of the Ten Commandments. And right along with the story of the commandments being given is the reminder of how the people responded to the whole event.

If you recall, God spoke in the hearing of the people. He made the mountain smoke and quake. And the people of God who saw it were utterly terrified. They were rightly afraid of the holiness and power of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 5:23-27 – 23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

The people came to Moses and acknowledged they had heard the voice of God and seen a glimpse of his power. They then asked Moses to serve as a go-between to tell them what God had to say. Why? They were afraid of that might and that purity. They could not imagine that any nation could really see the glory of God and his holiness and his power and still live to tell the tale.

Now, here is the point that makes me write. These people saw the spectacular and heard the voice of God. They rightly assessed the situation by being amazed that they could catch a glimpse of the one true God and live. They understood that God’s holiness is deadly. So they trembled. And in a respectful awe, they asked Moses to represent them to the Lord and to communicate to them for the Lord.

Today, I wonder how many who claim to know the Lord have any concept of this fear. I wonder how many who attend church on a weekly basis can even begin to grasp the holy fear that made the people of God ask Moses to listen in their stead. I wonder how many believe that any person should even think twice before approaching the Lord.

I believe wholeheartedly that Christians have been given the right to approach God in freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12). I believe that God has adopted believers as his own children (John 1:12-13). I understand that we are made righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). And yet I also know that there is something very right about thinking about how one approaches the Lord. Our God is holy, holy, holy (Rev. 4:8). From his throne come flashes of lightning and rumblings and thunders (Rev. 4:5).

It would be a good thing, I think, if we remembered the holiness of God that caused such trembling in the nation of Israel. It would be good if we were in awe of the concept of a people being allowed in the presence of God. It would be good to shake our heads in wonder at the concept of hearing the words of God and yet living. And then it would be good to enter that presence of God, humbly, under the grace of Jesus, with proper gratitude. I think relearning a little of the fear of God in this way would honor him well even as it helps us to be truly grateful for grace.

God’s Law Shows Us As Wise

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Reading Deuteronomy 4, I came across something that grabbed my attention in a very strong way. It is one of those paragraphs that feels wrong in our culture. But it is absolutely perfect.

Deuteronomy 4:5-8 – 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

When God sent Israel into the land, he told them to keep his law. One reason for them to keep his law is that doing so would show the people of Israel as wise to the watching pagan world around them. People would see a people who were different from them in a thousand ways, and that difference would be notable.

This paragraph stands as an indictment against our modern American culture. God is clear that lost people should see the people of God who live according to the commands of God and find it wise. Lost people should see how we deal with worship, with family, with community, with justice, with charity, and they should be amazed at how orderly and wise is the word of God. It is a black mark against America that we as a nation no longer express respect for the justice and wisdom of the word of God.

And this stands as an indictment against the modern church. We as the people who claim the name of God today in America—I’m here talking about big evangelicalism in general—have failed to cling to the word of God in the face of society. Church after church and organization after organization has let go of the word of God. Bit by bit, standard after standard, people who say they love God are letting Go of God’s word and God’s ways so as to look pleasing to our culture. We fear that our culture will not like us, will not accept us, might even persecute us if we do not show them that we are willing to adopt their ways. And thus we deny that the word of God is clear that the people of God, living in accord with the word of god, will ultimately amaze the watching world with the wisdom of God’s word and ways.

Church, let us love and obey the word of God. Yes, that will make us look different from the world. That is, after all, the point. There is no value in winning someone to a gospel that has let go of the word of God as if that is any sort of gospel at all. We must look, think, and act differently than the world around us. And we reach out to that world with the grace of the God whose word we obey. God will use that word to convict others of sin and draw them to himself. And we must never pretend that following the Lord looks just like the rest of the world, only with a little cross attached somewhere.

The Gift of God’s Law

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The title of the book of Deuteronomy literally means second law. Moses is reiterating for the people of Israel the commands of God. The nation left Egypt nearly four decades ago, an entire generation lies buried in the desert. And now it will be time for the people of God to enter and take possession of the land.

Before the nation enters the land, God will use Moses as his spokesman one final time. God will have Moses remind the people of the laws of God that the nation received when they were still children, fresh out of Egypt. For the first 3 chapters of this book, Moses reminded the people of their basic history. In chapter 4, Moses begins to point to the law. And what Moses has to say is beautiful.

Deuteronomy 4:1-2 – 1 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

As God prepares to send Israel into her land, he points them directly to his word and his promise. He has promised them the land. But he has also shown them, as a people, how to live so as to be under his favor. And it all centers on the word of God.

Moses tells the people not to add to or take from the word of God. They are not to make up new commands, laws, or styles of worship that God did not command. They were not to adopt the religious practices and pagan moralities of the people living in Canaan. Nor were they to bring to the table new, fresh, never-before-seen ideas about who God is and how he is to be considered. They were to stick with the revelation of God they had received.

Neither was the nation to take from the word of God. It was not for Israel to enter the land and then ignore what God had commanded them about sacrifice, about marriage, or about justice. They were to worship as God prescribed. They were to shape their society as God had prescribed. And they, if they were to continue to be in God’s favor, were to keep his law without cutting it down.

As Christians who live under the New Covenant, we are not necessarily required to obey the laws that God gave to Israel about camping in the desert or the laws of sacrifice that were a shadow of the perfect sacrifice of Christ. But we would be fools not to see that the law of God shows who God is and what are his standards. God’s law teaches us about justice, genuine justice. God’s law teaches us about marriage and family. God’s law teaches us about God’s requirements for human sexuality. God’s law teaches us about God’s holiness. God’s law shows us that no sin has ever been forgiven without a substitutionary sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice—the sacrifice of Jesus—making atonement.

When God had Moses tell the people to keep his law and neither to add to nor take from it, God was showing the people that he had blessed them greatly. God had given them the information they needed to live as his people. This is a kindness from God beyond what we can imagine. God is not required by any external standard to let us know who he is or what he desires. God has every right to cast us into hell for sin even if he never tells us what sin is. But God chose to graciously reveal himself in his word. God chose to graciously reveal his worship, his standards, and his ways in his word.

May we never be a people who do anything less than treasure God’s word. Yes, from time to time we will need to examine Old Testament law closely to learn what is the timeless principle for today’s application. But there is such a thing. God’s law is perfect. God’s word is good. And we as the people of God love the law of God because that law reveals to us the God we worship if indeed we worship the true God. Never let any part of the word of God go. Never stop loving the word of God. Never change or twist the word of God. Let the law of God reveal to you our God and lead you to worship Jesus, the Son of God, who perfectly fulfilled the law of God on our behalf.

A Quick Thought on Biblical Justice

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The word justice is being thrown around so much in recent days that I fear many have no idea of its meaning. So many sources present to us so many various standards for what is just, what is right, what is required. But how do we have the wisdom to speak of real justice, not a political ploy, but genuine justice?

Psalm 37:30-31

30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

In my daily reading, I ran across the above psalm which I believe tells us something that we absolutely must not forget. There seems to be a person who speaks wisdom and justice. There seems to be a way to have God-honoring, God-pleasing justice just roll off your tongue. And in a messed up world where all sorts are crying for very different ends and declaring them to be justice, we need to know how to have that wisdom.

Verse 32 shows us what we need to know to get justice right when it says, “The law of his God is in his heart.” How do we find justice? The law of God is where we find justice. The holy, perfect, law of God is full of all we need to grasp justice.

It is tragic when Christians do not love the word of God. That word of God, Old Testament and New Testament, with its commands and wisdom is our only solid source for actual justice. God has told us what pleases him. God has told us how to treat each other with rightness and fairness. God has even given us an example of one ancient nation’s system of justice in all sorts of civil cases. And that standard teaches us justice.

So, today, when you hear a person call for justice, compare what they are asking for to the word of God. Are they asking for what God calls just? Are they treating others with God’s standard? Are they trusting God as the final and eternal judge? Are they seeking to please the Lord in obedience to his revealed will in all things? Is Their handling of the word of God in keeping with the clear commands and obvious principles of justice that flow from Genesis through Revelation and over every book in between?

Friends, simply put, if you want wisdom, if you want justice, if you want righteousness, you must find it in the word of God.

Morality Requires Belief in God

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If you have studied apologetics or philosophy much at all, you likely have run across the simple argument that without God, there is no basis for morality. This is a simple argument, to be sure. But simple does not take anything away from its accuracy.

In order for us to see an action as right or wrong, good or evil, acceptable or unacceptable, there must be a standard by which this is determined. If the basis for this determination is subjective, totally based on the point of view of the one assessing the situation, then in truth, there is no such thing as right or wrong. Only if there is an ultimate judge, an ultimate law-giver or morality-maker, can we actually understand that what is right is really right because it is right.

In contrast, if we live in a materialistic and naturalistic universe, morality cannot exist in any meaningful way. If all you and I are at our cores are collections of chemicals that have randomly come together to produce the illusion of meaning, then there is no actual point to discussions of right and wrong. After all, there is simply no way to suggest that one random collection of chemicals dismantling another random collection of chemicals has any sort of moral value. We do not judge a rock as morally wrong if it falls and breaks another rock. WE do not judge the ocean as in sin for eroding the coastline. And thus, if human beings are mere matter, we have no moral basis for judging any action of humans, regardless of its level of destructiveness.

While this argument appears philosophically sound, a more important question arises: Is it biblical? Does God’s word reveal to us the truth that we feel we arrive at through simple reasoning? I thought of that in my daily reading, this time in the Psalms.

Psalm 36:1-4

1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

The wicked does not reject evil. Why? What is it that prevents the wicked from rejecting evil? What is he missing? What is at least part of the problem? Notice what the psalmist gives us.

At the end of verse 1, we see that a key to being evil is that there is no fear of God before your eyes. In verse 2, we see that the wicked deceives himself into the belief that no one can find out his wickedness. And I would suggest that these two thoughts fall perfectly in line with our discussion of a need for God in order for morality to have meaning.

In verses 1-2 of the psalm, a wicked person acts based on a pair of false beliefs. This person assumes that there is no God, no judge above him to assess his actions. Thus, the wicked person feels free to act according to his desires, uncircumscribed by an external moral standard. He believes that his iniquity cannot be either found out or hated by anyone who matters. At the end of the day, it appears that the wicked person walks easily into wickedness because of his assessment of the world that he will answer to no one for his actions.

No, this psalm is not engaging in the deep philosophical discussion of whether or not true morality is possible apart from a belief in God. But it does point us in the direction of an answer. The lack of acceptance of the existence and authority of God leads people to act in wicked ways because they fear no retribution for their actions from a judge who sees.

Now, it is also true that some men, claiming a religious faith, have acted wickedly. And it is true that some who claim no religious faith have behaved in ways that are consistent with good. But the key to our understanding is that it is only logically consistent for a person to find his or her morality based on the presence, existence, judgment, and standards of God as we find revealed in the word of God.