Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
If there is one thing we learn from the Supreme Court and some of its overreaches, it is that the wisest of people are corrupt and get it wrong. Gone is the objectivity and level headedness of the judge to the point where we no longer feel compelled to call them “Your honor.” This psalm also speaks to the false notion that mankind is “basically good.” David knew that, even though he was a man after God’s own heart, his own heart was deceitful above all things(Jeremiah 17:9). Even though God knew us and formed us in the womb (Psalm 139:13), the Fall has ensured that even the newborn is born in sin. In short, man is a wrong, violent, wicked, estranged, and astray liar.
This past week’s events in Europe are a good illustration of man’s propensity to violence. The war in Ukraine seems to be simply the whim of a man who always wanted to start a war. Time will tell if nuclear war is also on his wish list. It would serve to validate the sentiments of David in this psalm. While most people could be termed “Basically good” by some, all people have a secret wish to do something that is wicked and go astray from the wishes of our Creator. That is why we are estranged from God. Thank God Jesus was no mere man! His death restores the estranged and astray to the only Judge who decrees rightly when he pronounces us…
Not guilty.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church