Life Advice
No matter where you’re getting life advice, or the area of life for which you’re getting advice, it is likely that you will eventually be encouraged to start taking small steps toward a goal in order to start building a pattern of life that will lead to a goal.
Most change doesn’t happen in a day. It is a slow process of building up habits which lead to better choices. I’ve written a post about that here. However, the opposite can also be true. In this section of Psalm 36, David covers the habits that characterize a life lived for sin.
Where Sin Comes From
A well known phrase from the past is “the Devil made me do it”. In modern times, it can be even more common to hear that people are doing wrong because of their life experiences or external pressures. If we cleaned up society enough, offered enough programs, etc… it is supposed, we could eradicate wicked behavior. In both cases, you’ll notice that the source of sin is external. People would be good, if only they didn’t have someone/thing else causing them to sin!
This is not an accurate view of sin. The devil, or our environment, may tempt us, but the evil desires are from our own heart. Unchecked by fear of God these temptations (speaking to the sin within us) will give birth to wicked behavior.
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
Psalms 36:1
Rather than pass the blame, we must own it if we hope to resist it!
Self-Deception
The second verse speaks to how a person could have no fear of God.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
Psalm 36:2
There are two parts that make up this flattery of a man in his own eyes. The first is that his iniquity cannot be found out. Without proper consideration, we may imagine that we can keep on sinning and stay below the radar. To combat this, we must remember that God doesn’t use radar. As creator of space and time, he knew the end from the beginning. There’s nothing we do that escapes his awareness.
This brings us to the second part. That our iniquity would not be hated. This is a huge issue in today’s culture. First, we imagine that our sin isn’t really all that bad. Everyone lies from time to time, right? God will understand. Still worse now, we see may examples where things which God has expressly condemned in scripture is now treated as if it is a good. God would want us to be happy, and this makes me happy so therefore God certainly cannot hate it!
We’re only fooling ourselves. God does hate sin and both the temporal judgements of all history (Sodom, Ananias and Sapphira, etc…) and the eternal punishment delivered upon his return can attest to that. Perhaps even more than that, the suffering Christ himself underwent to redeem for himself a people is evidence of the seriousness of sin. Our sin has weight, and it is healthy to feel it.
Evidence of Wickedness
Elsewhere in scripture, we can find Jesus teaching his disciples.
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Matthew 15:18
And David observed that very fact here as well.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
Psalm 36:3
When wickedness is nurtured in our hearts, it will work its way out. When it does, we will speak deceptively and cause no end of trouble. We will being acting increasingly foolishly and will do no good. That’s not to say we won’t, in our arrogance, imagine we are wise and doing the “right thing”. However, sin warps a person into a manipulator and troublemaker.
Acceptance or Rejection
This section concludes by reiterating the principle that wickedness isn’t a single act chosen in the moment, but has its roots deep in the life of a person.
He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.
Psalm 36:4
We often imagine that the temptations that make us stumble are those which blindside us. However, here we see wickedness is a thing that is determined from the moment we wake. If we’re not actively rejecting evil, we won’t passively be good. It is not in our base nature to do good. We must resist the evil or we will be setting a path straight to it.
Analyze Your Life
My hope is that this section of inspired scripture be helpful when you consider your own life and how to walk with your Lord. It breaks down the habits of the wicked and avoiding these seemingly small steps can keep us from that path. How often do we downplay our sin as either hidden or not truly hated? How often do we use our situation as an excuse for sin? Are we waking up determined to actively reject sin or are we setting ourselves on a path that should be terrifying (with a proper view of God)?
As David observed all those years ago, unless we set about rejecting sin it will fill our life with deceit and trouble. There’s no joy in it and we’re only fooling ourselves. To be wise, we must be active in rejecting sin! Stand strong and find a community of others who will stand with you. Put on the armor of God and make war with the sin that he hates!
