Psalm 14: When the World Says “There Is No God”

Core Theme: For when you’re doubting, wavering, or wondering whether any of this is worth it

(Related Theme: Guilt, Sin & Repentance. See “Walking through it” below.)

Background

David wrote Psalm 14, and the Bible doesn’t tell us the exact occasion. What he saw around him is clear enough: people living as though God did not exist, and doing great harm because of it. It is a psalm written from a world that looked a great deal like ours.

The psalm is also repeated, nearly word for word, in Psalm 53, which shows how much weight the Spirit of God placed on its message. Paul reached back to it in Romans 3 when he laid out the sinfulness of all mankind.

Psalm 14 (KJV)

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.

7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

The heart of it

This psalm opens bluntly. The fool says “in his heart” that there is no God. Notice where the saying happens. It is not shouted in public. It happens in the heart, in the quiet place where a person decides how he will live. The Bible’s word “fool” here is not about intelligence. It describes someone who has set God aside and lives as if no one will ever hold him to account.

That might seem like an odd psalm to find under doubt and wavering faith. But think about what the believer feels when he looks at the world David describes. Wrong seems to go unanswered. Those who ignore God appear to do just fine. Honest questions rise up: Is God paying attention? Does it matter? Is any of this worth it?

Psalm 14 answers those questions in a way that may surprise you. It does not say the questions are wrong. It says the Lord is paying attention. Verse 2 says He “looked down from heaven upon the children of men.” Nothing escapes Him. The world’s rebellion has not caught Him off guard, and it has not gone unseen.

There is also a difference worth drawing out between the fool’s settled denial and the believer’s struggle. The fool says there is no God and goes on living that way. The doubting believer is troubled precisely because he believes God is there and wonders why things look the way they do. Bringing that struggle to God, rather than away from Him, is itself a sign of a living faith. Many of the psalms do exactly this, and the Lord never rebukes them for it.

Walking through it

Verse 1: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”

David is not describing only the loud, obvious sinners. He is describing the condition of the human heart apart from God. This is where the secondary theme comes in. The psalm does not let us point only at “them.” It is a mirror, and verse 3 widens it: “They are all gone aside… there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Paul quotes this in Romans 3:10–12, and then makes the point that every mouth is stopped and all the world is guilty before God (Romans 3:19). If you have ever wondered why the world is the way it is, this is a large part of the answer. And if you have ever wondered whether you are the only one who struggles, this is the answer to that too.

Verse 5: “There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.”

Here the psalm turns. The very people who seemed untouchable are in great fear. Those who deny God do not escape Him. And notice that God is with the righteous. Those who have trusted Him are not left to stand alone against a hostile world.

Verse 6: “Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.”

The poor are shamed and their counsel despised, yet the Lord is their refuge. When your faith feels thin and you are weary of being on the losing side of things, this is the verse to hold. A refuge is not a place that proves you were right. It is a place to run when you are tired.

Verse 7: “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”

David ends with longing, not with a tidy answer. He wants rescue, and he knows it must come from the Lord. The psalm’s focus here is Israel, yet God’s Word is for us all, and Paul applies this very psalm to Jew and Gentile alike. That is the cry of every believer who has looked at a broken world and said, How long? And rescue has come. Jesus Christ, the salvation out of Zion, came to deal with the very sin this psalm describes. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23–24).

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already brought you through a season of doubt, when prayer felt empty and the hard questions would not quiet down, remember that He was with you in it. The same Lord who looked down from heaven in verse 2 was watching over you then, whether or not you could feel it. We are quick to forget what He has carried us through, and as things settle we can slowly drift. Keep your eyes on Him now. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2).

If you are in the middle of it now, know that the Lord has seen what you are seeing, and none of it surprises Him. David did not hide his troubled thoughts from God, and you do not need to hide yours. Bring Him the questions and the weariness. He is your refuge, and He invites you to come to Him: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can hold on to this, too: whatever this world looks like along the way, you will spend eternity with Him.