Psalm Photos - 53 - Depravity
Psalm 53
Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good.
God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?
There they shall be in great terror, in terror such as has not been. For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.
O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
-----
One of the traditional tenets of Calvinism is the concept of total depravity. The idea behind it is the same as what was expressed in this Psalm. "They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one." There's not a lot of warm feelings around this line or the concept as a whole. The good news of course is the hope at the end...o for the deliverance of God...while there are times I wish this concept was not a reality, there are so many others that tell me, at least in this point, Calvin was on to something. Be it those things that happen on an individual level or on a mass scale where we see the dark side of humanity, we are reminded of our deep and persistent need for the redemption of another.