Psalm 36

Wicked  Men and the Loving-kindness of God 

King David was a man who was delighted in God.  It is true that only those who are the Lord’s servants, to be one in heart and submissive to Him as Lord, take great delight in Him.  David shows a contrasting two ways to live—in the deceitfulness of sin or in the delightfulness of God.

 

A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord

     1     Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart—there is no fear of God before his eyes.

       2     For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.

       3     The  words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit, he has  ceased to be wise and to do good.

       4     He plans wickedness upon his bed—He sets himself on a path that is not good, he does not despise evil.  

      5     Your  lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

     6     Your righteousness is like the¹mountains of God— Your  judgments are like a great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

     7     How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men  take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

     8     They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house, and You give them to drink of the  river of Your delights.     

    9      For with You is the fountain of life, in Your light we see light.

   10     O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and our righteousness

           to the upright in heart.

   11     Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. 

   12     There the doers of iniquity have fallen—they have been thrust down and cannot rise. 

 

The deceitfulness of sin and the delightfulness of God should cause us to seek Him for a continuing source and experience of His love. 

Sin deceives the sinner by flattering him so that he actively plans and pursues it (vs:1-2).

I would agree that “where there is no fear of God” –sin begins in the heart and expresses itself in words and deeds.  It’s a natural progression.  The sinning person may go so far as flatter themselves into thinking that their sin is not so bad, while the sinner is blind to what everyone else plainly sees—or at least that he is no worse than everyone else.   

Sin deceives the sinner so that he plans and pursues it (36:3-4)

Sin deceives so that he cannot see and hate his own sins. But, then David uses wickedness and deceit to indicates that this person is in a downward spiral.  At one time he may have had some semblance of common wisdom and good behavior, but he long ago abandoned it. Now, rather than despising evil, he lies awake at night thinking about his next move—planning how to do it and plotting a path to get there (v. 4). Not just inadvertently drifting into sin, rather, he is deliberately planning it.

example: If anyone is thinking about how to get your girlfriend into bed, or how to sneak your next view of Internet pornography, or how to get your next drink or hit of drugs, then David is describing you! You do not despise evil—rather you’re planning how to do it. You may profess to be a Christian, but your secret thoughts reveal that there is no fear of God before your eyes! Take heed! 

Then, without any transition, as if this contemplation of how sin flatters and deceives is too horrific, David abruptly shifts his focus from the depths of depravity, to the heights of God and His abundant blessings towards those who seek Him. 

God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness are immense (vs:5)

“Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” David mentions God’s lovingkindness three times in this psalm.  God’s “faithfulness” means that He always keeps His promises. He is consistent, never changing. By saying that God’s lovingkindness extends to the heavens and His faithfulness to the skies, David means that these qualities are immense and inexhaustible. We can keep coming to Him with no fear of rejection if we come with a repentant heart.   

God’s righteousness and judgments are impressive (vs:6)

God’s ways are not our ways. We cannot understand all that He does or why He does it. We cannot understand many of the trials that He brings into our lives.  God Himself is the standard for what is righteous. He always wills what is right and does what is right. To say that His righteousness is like the mountains of God (or, the mighty mountains) is to say that His standards are impressive and immovable, because they stem from His holy character. 

God’s provisions for His people are abundant and delightful (36:8)

“They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.”

“Abundance” is literally, “fatness.” It pictures the best portion of meat from the sacrifices offered at the temple. It communicates having all of something delightful that you want or need.  To appreciate the river metaphor, you have to remember that David was writing to people who lived surrounded by desert.   

Is this your concept of God towards you? Do you see His lovingkindness and faithfulness as immense? Do you think of His righteousness and judgments on a personal level, because He cares for you? Is His love precious and inviting? 

 

God Himself is the source of life and light (36:9)

“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.”

Life means not only physical life, but also spiritual life. This verse sounds like John 1:4, which says of Jesus, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”  As Jesus himself claimed in John 5:21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Jesus is the source of eternal life for His chosen ones. The fountain of life suggests an unending supply. God through Jesus is the Light for His people.

 

The delightfulness of God should cause us who know Him to pray for a continuing experience of His love (36:10-12)

“O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the doers of iniquity have fallen; they have been thrust down and cannot rise.”

 

Even though we who have come to know God through Jesus Christ and have experienced His grace and love, we need a continuing, steady flow of it. Even though He has promised it (Rom. 8:35-39), we still need to ask Him for it.

David asks for God’s righteousness to continue to be given to the upright in heart.  We are never fully sanctified in this life. We will not be completely like Jesus until the moment that we see Him face to face (1 John 3:2). And so we must continue to ask God to give us His righteousness. This isn’t just outward behavior, but uprightness of heart. We need to seek God for a pure heart and thought life. All outward sin begins with corrupt thoughts that are not judged. If your righteousness is outward only, it is only a matter of time until you sin outwardly.  Take every thought captive and reach out to God for is loving guidance.