An Oracle Against the Wicked

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Psalm 36

Psalm 36 is connected to Psalm 1.  The main difference is whereas Psalm 1 contrasts the wicked with the righteous Psalm 36 contrasts the attributes of the wicked with the attributes of God Himself.

In Psalm 36, we have 2 realities displayed for us.  On the one hand you have the wicked who are characterized by rebellion against God, faithlessness, leaving God out of their decisions, ignoring God’s expectations of them, waywardness, deceit, secret scheming and by thinking they will get away with their lifestyle, not having to give an account to God.

On the other hand, you have Yahweh who is ignored by the wicked but Yahweh is characterized by commitment, truthfulness, steadfast love, faithfulness and delivering His people.

When it seems as if the wicked will win the day, Psalm 36 invites us to pray and see with the eyes of faith the reality of human wickedness and rejection of God will now and in the future be eclipsed by the greater reality of God’s Steadfast Love, Life and Light which will ultimately take the final prize! 

Let us study the stark contrasts between the attributes of faithless humanity and our Faithful God!

1. The Attributes of the Wicked (Faithless) in Verse 1-4
   1. The Pauline Connection-St. Paul quotes Psalm 36:1 in Romans 3:18.  This denial of God has a 4 step downward decline into darkness:
      1. Having denied God will hold them accountable for their sins the wicked become center of their own world and are self-deceived—Notice the phrase “For he flatters himself in his own eyes”.
         1. Self-Flattery in a hope there is no after life, no eternity.
         2. 11th Hour Self-Flattery
         3. Moralistic Self-Flattery
         4. False Conversion Self–Flattery
         5. Atheistic Self-Flattery  
         6. Application: “The World Does Not Revolve Around You”
   2. Having lost a frame of reference for what is good or evil, the wicked are unable to detect or hate their sin.  “his iniquity cannot be found out and hated” 
   3. Having become self-deceived and losing the ability to detect sin the wicked are now unable to speak God’s truth or “do good”— “The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.”-Verse 3.   
   4. Absent of true knowledge, the wicked become so abandoned to evil they plot their sins day and night and have completely committed themselves to an evil way of life— “He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil”—Verse 4.    We would call this kind of thinking crazy and that’s exactly what it is…Spiritual Insanity! 
2. The Attributes of God in Verses 5-9
   1. Steadfast Love—In verses 5, 7 and 10.  
   2. Faithfulness—In verse 5.  This speaks of God keeping His Word.  
   3. Righteousness—In verse 6.  While “faithfulness” refers to God’s Word His “Righteousness” refers to God’s ways (deeds) which are always right.  Remember the words of Abraham “The Judge of all the earth [does] do right” (Gen. 18:25).  
   4. Justice—In verse 6.  God’s justice is 2-fold:
      1. Final Judgement
         1. Present Justice—God is justly ordering the affairs of humanity!
   5. Application—What David is saying is that even the wicked, in spite of their rejection of God and His ways, still experience a measure of God’s love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice.  The scope of God’s common grace only renders the rebellion of the wicked that much more repulsive. 
3. The Application—The Blessings of Knowing God.  David mentions at least 4 great blessings of knowing the Lord personally in verses 8-9—abundance, delights, life and light.  The 9^th verse is perhaps the greatest teaching of this Psalm!
   1. Beware of the Spirit of Individualism
   2. Remember the Words of William Ernest Henley’s poem entitle ‘Invictus’— “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”
   3. Psalm 36 sings a completely different melody than the song of ‘Individualism’—Not ‘I call them as I see them’ but rather, “in your light we see light”.   
   4. C.S. Lewis has this inscribed on his memorial— “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else”
   5. Fullness of Life is never something we generate in and of ourselves—Mays sums it up beautifully: “Life as existence, as full and good living, as community, as restoration—life in every sense is the gift of the Lord. The source of life is ‘with him.’ … Wherever there is life, there is a receiving from the source.”