Psalms 36:1-12: a reflection

1A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin. 3The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil. 5Your loving kindness, LORD, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 6Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. LORD, you preserve man and animal. 7How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. 8They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. 9For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light. 10Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away. 12There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

The psalm opens with a clear-eyed look at the person who has no fear of God. Such a one flatters himself, refuses to see or hate his own sin, and plots trouble even on his bed. It is a portrait of a heart curved in on itself, so pleased with its own reasoning that it can no longer recognize evil. This is what a life looks like when reverence for God has been shut out.

Then, without warning, the psalm lifts its eyes and the tone changes entirely. Your steadfast love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds; your righteousness is like the great mountains. Against the narrow, self-absorbed heart of the wicked, the psalmist sets the vast, overflowing goodness of God. People take refuge under the shadow of his wings, feast on the abundance of his house, and drink from the river of his delights. With God is the fountain of life, and in his light we see light.

The contrast is the point. You can live curved in on yourself, feeding on your own flattery until you cannot see straight, or you can take refuge under God's wings and drink from his river of delights. One shrinks the soul; the other satisfies it. Turn from the small world of self and come to the fountain of life. In God's light you will finally see clearly, and in his house you will find a fullness the self-absorbed heart never tastes.

Lord, your steadfast love reaches to the heavens and with you is the fountain of life. Keep me from the small, self-flattering heart that can no longer see its own sin. Draw me under the shadow of your wings, satisfy me from the abundance of your house, and let me see clearly in your light. I turn from myself to you, the spring of all life. Amen.