Thy mercy Lord doth to the heavens extend,
Thy faithfulness doth to the clouds ascend;
Thy justice steadfast as a mountain is,
Thy judgments deep as is the great Abyss;
Thy noble mercies save all living things,
The sons of men creep underneath thy wings:
With thy great plenty they are fed at will,
And of thy pleasure's stream they drink their fill;
For even the well of life remains with thee,
And in thy glorious light we light shall see.—Sir John Davies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying." Said another way, actions speak louder than words. It is a mark of maturity to be able to look past flowery language to see the heart of a person.
God knows our heart, and in the 36th Psalm we see David contrasting the heart of evil man with the heart of God as evidenced by His steadfast love, His faithfulness, and His righteousness. David goes on to pray that God's favor would continue to be with him (and people like him) and that we would not be tripped up by the wickedness of men among whom we live. Let's take a closer look together.
The evil that men do
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. --Psalm 36:1-4
Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." People have interpreted these words in several different ways. Some say it means that all your evil deeds will be remembered long after the good you have done is forgotten. Others interpret it to mean that someone may speak well of a person at their funeral, overlooking their sin and evil nature.
Similarly, there are several different interpretations of verse 1 of the 36th Psalm. Here are just a few of them. The Hebrew word for "speaks" is sometimes translated a "Oracle". So the NKJV renders it this way: "An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes." So we see that the sinful actions of man bespeak the evil within them, as would a prophet or an Oracle (i.e. one who sees with spiritual eyes.) Another interesting deviation among the various translations is the pronoun "his", as in "his heart." The ASV translates it this way: "The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes." Once we start questioning whether this should be a first person or second person pronoun, we are faced with the fact that we may see the sins of others quite easily, but we ourselves are prone to the very same sin. Romans 3:10 reminds us that "None is righteous; no, not one."
The point, I think, is that when we see ourselves and others through the filter of our sins, our true heart is revealed. We may flatter ourselves, or speak well of others, and kind of brush our sins under the rug so that no one can see them. This is like putting lipstick on a pig. People are still wicked in their heart of hearts. The Phillips paraphrase renders verse 4 like this: "They lie awake at night hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil." In Genesis 6:5 God made this assessment: "Every thought of man was evil all the time." Jesus said in Matthew 24:37 that the last days would be as the days of Noah. If you believe that we are in the last days, one of the evidences would be the utter and complete depravity of man that we see around us every day.
The absolute goodness of God
Contrast the wickedness of man with the attributes of God. We see in verses 5-9
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, You faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You given them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
What do we see about God in this passage? How does David describe Him? The first adjective he uses is the Hebrew word hesed. This word is found almost 250 times in the Old Testament, and it is variously translated as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, and favor. Many would equate it with the Greek word agape, which describes the sacrificial love of God; but this is too limiting. It does not merely mean the love of God, but goes so much deeper. This steadfast love, this hesed, is indeed precious.
The second adjective describing God is His faithfulness. This word can mean firmness, fidelity, steadfastness and steadiness. In ancient times sailors would plot a course to get to their destination, and if they stayed true, and did not drift off-course, did not turn to the right or to the left, they would faithfully reach their destination. In modern times pilots will do the same: set a course, and stay true to that heading, so that their passengers (souls on board) and cargo can safely reach their destination. How much more is God true and faithful in bringing about His will for us? This is what Steven Curtis Chapman was thinking when he wrote the song, the refrain of which says, "My Redeemer is faithful and true; everything He has said He will do. Every morning His mercies are new. My Redeemer is faithful and true."
The third word David uses to describe God in these verses is righteous. He is without sin. You will note that the first word used to describe man was sinful, wicked, transgressing His ways--these words are the defining qualities of man. By contrast God is righteous, sinless, and pure; but that is not even the best or most important thing about Him.
Because His love is steadfast, we can take refuge in Him (verse 5). Because of His faithfulness (verse 5), we can "feast on His abundance" and can "drink from the river of His delight" (verse 8). Because of His righteousness, His sinless purity, He is the very light by which we see. Without the shadow of any guilt or stain in the lens through which we see reality, we can see His goodness, His love, His righteousness. We can also see our own sin.
The prayer for deliverance
Oh, continue Your steadfast love to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart! Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise. --verses 10-12
When we are confronted with the sinfulness of man, it speaks to our heart. When we recognize the righteous favor of God, we run to Him for refuge and forgiveness. Yet even then we are prone to look back, to revisit our sin, to even long for it. We must pray, as David did, that God's love would remain steadfast. We must pray that God would impute His righteousness upon us, covering our sin. We must not be drawn away, because then we become like those overcome by evil, lying in the dirt, unable to have fellowship with a holy God.
Salvation is not a "one-and-done" event. We are to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23), dying to our sinful selves and allowing God to cleanse us, to use us, to love us unconditionally. Let us continually grow in grace, and avoid arrogance. We must humbly call to Jesus, and not let the hooks of evil men around us draw us away from Him. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." I believe the writer of Hebrews was writing to Christians, not to "sinners." We all must shake off the effects of sin to be an effective Christian. We all need grace.
John Newton, was a former slave trader turned Christian, who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. Near the end of his life he said, "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner; and Christ is a great Savior."
We must not forget the mercy of God in our sin. As Christians, we know that God's mercy and grace have overcome our sin. Grace wins.
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