Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace. We're in Psalm 14 as we continue praying the Psalms. David writes this in verse 1.
Only fools say in their hearts, there is no god. They are corrupt, and their actions are evil. Not one of them does good. What a statement about people. The lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race.
He looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks god, but, no, all have turned away. All have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one. What a declaration. Later on, the apostle Paul would actually quote from this psalm in the book of Romans to talk about how sin has gotten into everybody's life for all time.
He continues here in verse 4. Will those who do evil never learn? It's a rhetorical question. The answer is no, they don't. We don't.
They eat up my people like bread and wouldn't think of praying to the lord. Terror will grip them, for god is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the lord will protect his people. Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When the lord restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.
By way of reflection, I want us to notice the the contrast between this declaration that no one is wise and no one does good, and yet this community of people at the end, Jacob or Israel, those who have been restored by god, they will rejoice. There's a kind of foolishness here and a rejoicing over here. And the way that you move from one to the other, I think, begins by acknowledging how you are the fool and I am the fool. You see, it's easy to read Psalm 14 and think, oh, yeah. All these people, these atheists, these people who don't believe in God, they're only fools.
But the truth is you and I were once there. Were we not? And there is a reality that sin has wrecked all of us. Right? No one can escape the devastation of sin.
We all both receive its consequences and also perpetrate its consequences into other people's lives. And so the first step for us today is to recognize our own foolishness and maybe the ways that we function as if there is no God. Even as Christians, we might live as though there is no God. We might act and trust and do things in the dark as if there is no God. And so one today, there's an invitation to confess our foolishness.
Secondly, to find hope in this reality there in verse 5. God is with those who obey him. Meaning, it's natural for us to look out into the world, to realize that no one seeks good, no one pursues after god. Even though he looks down to see and there is sin everywhere, it's easy to compromise because of the crowds and because of just the sheer mass of people who seem to be avoiding God, living as if there is no God. But there's a reality in which we can invite God in to be close to us as we confess our foolishness, to learn to walk in step with his son, Jesus, and then to lead to to a life of rejoicing.
Right? One in which we're not judging others because of their foolishness, but we're recognizing, yes, the devastation of sin, but inviting in the good news that god does walk with those who obey him, those who have been restored. In other words, those who have returned to themselves, those who have had returned to them all that sin has taken away, god and his grace brings back. And so what joy for us. Jesus, today, we hear you inviting us to not condemn the world, but to recognize the ways that even foolishness is in our own life.
Help us today to not live as if there is no god, but to see that even in the midst of so many people who might live like that, we realize that you look down on the world. You are close to the world, and you invite us in to trust you, to obey you today. And so would our obedience lead to joy and rejoicing. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Grace and peace, stay tuned for Psalm 15.