Psalm 53

Many things in this universe run on the law of cause-and-effect. And, according to David, our belief in God is no different: “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.” (vs 1)

It is worth noting here that what we believe about God impacts who we are. That’s right. What we believe about God actually matters—it’s not something we should take lightly. It’s also not something that’s primarily a matter of the head, but the heart. This means that God doesn’t want to be so much studied academically as He wants to love and be loved in return.

As we can see in this verse, the people who decided to live as though God didn’t exist became really awful people. Their choice to believe the wrong thing about God resulted in evil and more evil. This is what happens when God is absent from our lives. Because of this, God is in the business of revealing the truth about Himself to us. The more He reveals, the harder it is for us to deny in our hearts that He is real.

Of course, at the end of the day, if we’re determined to be fools (according to David’s definition), we are given the freedom to be fools. But if that’s what we choose, we do so with eyes wide open. Actually, that was most likely the case in David’s day, since philosophical atheism was unheard of in the ancient world. In that culture, the problem wasn’t atheism (no god), it was polytheism (many gods).

Thus, the people David described were making a choice to live as though there wasn’t a God although they knew better. Anyone who ultimately rejects God will be in the same boat, for God is in the business of revealing truth. He doesn’t leave us in the dark, wondering what to believe about Him. He makes the truth known to us.

What we choose to do with it is up to us.