Psalms 14:1-7
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:a 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.
Here the psalmist utters his own consciousness of the meaning of godlessness. In its essence it is folly. The word "fool" here stands for moral perversity rather than intellectual blindness. This is repeated in the declaration, "They are corrupt,'' and in the statement that their works are abominable. To his own testimony the psalmist adds the statement of the divine outlook on humanity. It is the same. Men do not recognize God and their doings are therefore evil.
The psalmist then looks at certain occasions without naming them. "There" refers to some occasion of God's deliverance of His people. The thought is that when God was recognized by His people their enemies were filled with fear. Then there is a contrasting picture of the oppressed people of God put to shame, "because Jehovah is his refuge"; the thought being that the refuge was neglected and the chosen therefore rejected (see Psa 53:5). The thought of the whole psalm is of the safety of godliness and the peril of ungodliness. Jehovah cannot be deceived. He knows and this events always prove. The psalm ends with a sigh for the coming of the day of deliverance.