Wrestling With Wickedness and God’s Goodness In Prayer (Psalm 36)
One of the most talked about and difficult things to consider in this world is the existence of evil in the world and the existence of God. We understand that the two exist in this world because of the Fall in Genesis 3. We understand that God created the world good, but mankind fell into sin and rebellion against God and His ways. But we don’t always understand how the two things work together for us personally, nor do we understand how we are to live in light of the way the world now exists. And how do we pray knowing that things are the way that they are.
Psalm 36 helps us with this difficulty. We do not act as if sinfulness does not exist. We face this world with eyes wide open. In the face of rampant wickedness we trust the goodness of God.
The Character Of The Wicked (Psalm 36:1-4)
What a beginning to this psalm! There is no introduction here to speak of. We just jump right in to a description of the wicked that is very blunt. It is transgression that speaks to the wicked and they have no fear of God.
Think briefly about this description. While goodness and righteousness speak to the heart of the righteous person, it is transgression that speaks to the heart of the wicked. It is what motivates them. It is what compels them to live as they do. And the wicked has no fear of God, therefore there is never a thought of being found out (2). They carry out their wicked plans without any consideration of God, or anyone else for that matter.
This whole thought process reminds me of the things that happen today. We’ve all likely seen the videos of people walking into a Walgreens with a duffle bag to fill it up with stuff. Everyone knew what was going to happen when they walked into the store with a huge duffle bag, but no one could or would stop them. There is no fear of law enforcement stepping in. And there is no fear of being arrested or punished. There is simply no fear of the law.
Interestingly, the psalmist takes this even further. Not only is transgression what speaks to the wicked and they have no fear of God, but it is also what consumes their thoughts day and night. As one great commentator put it,
“A man who has thus fallen a prey to the dominion of sin, and is alienated from God, has ceased to act wisely and well…His words when awake, and even his thoughts in the night-time, run upon …, evil, wickedness, the absolute opposite of that which alone is truly good…and his conscience is deadened against evil: there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him, he loves it with all his soul.”[1]
The beginning of this psalm is a summary statement that considers the depths of the depravity of the wicked. It’s a statement that is very straightforward and maybe a little harsh. But it is a statement that we can’t help but think feels familiar.
We see it today. I can’t emphasize enough that we, as a society are living through Romans 1. I have said it before and will likely be saying it repeatedly. God has abandoned people to the wickedness of their own heart, and we see this sort of thing all around us. Turn on the news and you see people stealing whatever they want. Look around and you see every sort of sexual deviance on display with great pride.
And these are things that touch our lives. A growth in sin among the people around us means that we will see and be affected by more sinful people. But we must not lose heart. We know the character of God and that His love and grace are both immense and evident in this world.
The Character Of God (Psalm 36:5-9)
On the complete other end of the spectrum is the steadfast love of the Lord, which “extends to the heavens” (Psalm 36:5. We tend to read that and reimagine what it says in our mind. We read it and think about it as if it says that the Lord’s love is in Heaven, but that is not what is going on here. By saying that it extends to the heavens, the psalmist is saying that it exists here and extends to the heavens.
Even as the wicked seem to be everywhere and getting worse, we can see the faithful lovingkindness of the Lord everywhere. Everywhere we look, we see God’s lovingkindness to us. When I wake up in the morning and the sun is still shining it is rather obvious to me that God’s lovingkindness is shining upon this world. Blessing after blessing is all around me, even if there is a growth of wickedness in the world today.
The Lord’s righteousness is described in much the same way. A mighty mountain begins on the ground and reaches up in the heavens. And God’s judgments are deep like, “the great deep” or the unsearchable depths of the ocean. So while the wickedness of the wicked is pervasive to them, God’s faithfulness is just pervasive. Everywhere we look we can see evidence of God’s lovingkindness.
And this “steadfast love” is precious. It is the exact opposite of the wickedness of the ungodly. All people, not just God’s people find refuge in Him (Psalm 36:7).
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45 ESV)
People feast on God’s abundant lovingkindness every day and most don’t recognize it (Psalm 36:8).
A good exercise to help us think through this topic is to ask how you get bread. How do you get bread? How does bread make it to your table for dinner?
Well, a farmer plants seed, but even his seed is reliant upon having seed. Where did it come from? But we won’t go there. We will just start with our famer planting seed. That seed needs water, sunlight, and nutrients from the ground to grow. And it also needs to not get some disease or a natural disaster that wipes it out. There needs to be enough water, but not too much water. And there needs to be enough sunlight. And if the nutrients are off in the soil it might not grow as it should. But if all goes well, the farmer cuts the wheat. That wheat is gathered and eventually ground into flower. In our day and time, it is very likely that this grinding into flour happened after the grain from the wheat was gathered and put on a truck. So, someone drove that truck for the grain to be processed, turned into flour, and packaged. Then, someone with the knowhow mixed it with other ingredients. Well, the milk came from a cow somewhere. A farmer took care of that cow and made sure the cow got the nutrients that she needed. He milked the cow and someone processed the milk. From the cow came the milk and butter to make the bread. And for every ingredient we add to the bread, this is the sort of process that we go through.
Within this process we see over and over that God provided the weather conditions necessary. We see that God provided knowhow. God provided the abilities. And in a country with plenty, we see that God has provided so very much to us.
And though we all receive God’s blessings, it is His people that find His lovingkindness in a special way (Psalm 36:9). We understand that life and breath and everything come from Him and that in His light we see light.
God Himself is truth, life, and light. And in Him we have life, both physical and eternal. The physical has already been described. Eternal life is fellowship with God and it was achieved for us by God the Son, Jesus Christ. He took on human flesh and accomplishes salvation for sinners. And all those who turn from ruling their own lives and trust in Him are united to Christ and have their sins paid for on the cross and receive the righteousness that He earned. They are counted as righteous because He accomplished righteousness and forgiveness for them. Those people are Christians.
As Christians, we are the people that see the world as it is. What other people see as random accidents, we understand to be the way God designed the world to operate. We understand that all things come from Him.
In essence, we understand how bread is made and so we are incredibly thankful for all that the Lord has given us.
So, even in the face of intense evil and wickedness that is found in the world today, we understand the grace and mercy of God that reaches all over the globe.
But why does David discuss these two, seemingly opposite ideas, one right after another?
Isn’t that how your mind works?
Isn’t that how your own thoughts operate?
David sees the wickedness of the wicked and the great damage they do in the world. And then his mind moves to God who is completely opposite of that and attempts to make sense of the world. And in his prayer, he brings the two very opposite things together in a way that you have probably done or attempted to do at one time or another.
Bring It Together In Prayer (Psalm 36:10-12)
Here is where things get interesting. David brings these two ideas together in prayer. The two ideas have seemed like opposites, but now they coalesce under one prayer. And we can learn from what happens here.
He prays for God to continue to be gracious to His people (Psalm 36:10). This is good. And in a world that seems to be completely falling apart, it is good and right to pray for God’s gracious kindness to continue to be with His people.
He also prays for God to continue to uphold His people in righteousness (Psalm 36:10). God is the defender of His people. He vindicates and avenges us. He restrains our enemies. And God preserves us.[2]
Both of these are important prayers for God’s people in a wicked day and age. Let us not be destroyed by the wickedness of the wicked. Let not that wickedness touch us.
Next David prays for God to keep him from becoming wicked himself (Psalm 36:11). This is something that you need to consider. If you haven’t considered it, you may be in danger. You need to be careful lest you be swept away among the wicked yourself.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 ESV)
This is a prayer of preservation so that you don’t become filled with arrogance and pride. This is a prayer that you will be kept from walking in wickedness.
We have all seen the news stories. Pastors who think they are untouchable will find their selves destroyed by sin. David himself would find the last part of his life embroiled in controversy after controversy because of his adultery with Bathsheba.
And he prays that he would be preserved from the wickedness of the wicked,
“nor the hand of the wicked drive me away” (Psalm 36:11 ESV).
In a world with wicked people, we can very easily be affected by it. And I think you know this already.
For instance, an increased number of people committing violent crimes in a city will affect people in that city. I am certain that the increased murder rate in Little Rock has affected people in Little Rock. The city’s homicide rate has increased over 70% over the last 5 years. That is a dramatic increase in the one type of violent crime. Those people are dead and that affects their families in a deep way and it raises fear within the city itself.
Again, this is only one type of violent crime. This is only one sin that can touch people’s lives. And as wickedness grows in the land, we pray for God’s protection from the affects of it.
Now, in the last verse of Psalm 36, David ends up exactly where he ends up over and over again. He ends up in a position of confidence in the Lord. This is not where we would have thought this psalm would end up considering the way it began. But it ends with confidence that God will righteously judge the wicked (Psalm 36:12).
The psalm ends with less of a petition and more of an understanding of what God is going to do one day. God is going to make all things right!
As Christians, we need to bring these things together. We need to understand in very real ways both that wickedness abounds and does great damage, and that God is good. We need to wrestle with those ideas and finally come to trust the Lord. And we need to wrestle with these thoughts in our prayers until we find ourselves resting in the sovereign God who will one day make all things right.
Conclusion
I was talking with Amanda about this text and how different the first strophes are to one another. It seemed quite peculiar at first. But then I realized something. This is how we all think. This is how we all process the information. We look at how bad things are. Then we move to what we know of God. And then we try to put the information together. And here we find the right way of putting that information together.
This is looking at wickedness and understanding how awful it really is. This is not closing our eyes or turning away from it and ignoring it. This is discerning the truth of it. But this is also looking into what we know of God from His Word and understanding His goodness. And when we understand these things rightly, we end in confidence in the Lord.
Sometimes that is a very long process. This is sometimes a thing that takes a while to get to. But we should face these things head on. When we do, we end in greater confidence in the Lord.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] F. Delitzsch, “Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten volumes by C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch”, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984, Volume 2 p. 2.
[2] This is an idea that is taken from John Calvin’s Commentary over this passage of Scripture.