When wickedness increases...

Psalm 36

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

¹Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
² For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
³The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
⁴He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

⁵Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O LORD.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.

¹⁰Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
¹¹Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹²There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

It wasn't in my scheduled reading, but this Psalm became my passage of the morning. I was struck by how David transitions from such horrible depravity at the beginning, to the rapture of "How precious is your steadfast love, O God!" Why these extremes?

For answers I went to The Treasury of David, Spurgeon's masterful compilation of commentary on the Psalms. Here I encountered another surprise. Spurgeon quoted William Sedgwick, a 17th century pastor. And though I knew Sedgwick was commenting on the depravity of his own century, I sensed so many echos of it in our day. Read it for yourself, apply Mr. Sedgwick's words to the 21st century, and see if you can hear the echos too:

This Psalm doth fitly set forth unto us the estate and condition of these times, wherein wickedness increaseth: and so in the former part of the Psalm is a discovery of wickedness, verse 3. And what should we do when there is such wickedness in the earth? In the fifth verse, Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. God is gathering up all goodness, mercy, and peace from man to himself; and though there is cruelty, mischief, and wickedness in the world, in the earth, yet there is mercy, truth, and faithfulness in the clouds; and it's good that wisdom, goodness, truth, and righteousness leave the world, and cleave to God, that so we may follow it; and that what goodness, mercy, truth, and faithfulness we formerly enjoyed in man, we may enjoy it in God. And when wickedness increaseth, righteousness increaseth likewise: Thy righteousness is like the great mountains: when the world tears and breaks itself in pieces, then is the righteousness of God a great mountain. Thy judgments are a great deep; when the whole world is become one sea of confusion, then are the judgments of the Lord a great deep, where not only man, but beasts may rest safely. Thou preservest man and beast. And though this time is a time of growing and spreading wickedness in man, yet it is a time of sweetest admiration and love in God; and when men that sin do cry out, O woeful man! they that enjoy God, cry out, O happy man! And though men that live in the earth cry out, O miserable! what times are here? men that live in heaven cry out, How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! The Lord makes all things naked and bare, that we only may have him to be our safety.


I can't help but think that I'm going to encounter part of this moral dearth today as I begin graduate school in earnest. For all of their professed wisdom, there is much darkness and wickedness in our universities. Sedgwick said it well, What should we do when there is such wickedness in the earth?

I believe the answer goes back to that contrast that baffled me earlier. Yes, we must look at wickedness, in the earth and in our own hearts, and admit that it is hideous, sinister, and gravely deceptive. But it is David's heart (through Christ) that reacts rightly. When the world is sinking further into the abyss, he doesn't rage against the darkness, he sees that God's love is simply brighter by contrast!! Amidst the surge of wickedness, he is able to exclaim,

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Oh Lord, may I be of the same heart this morning, and in a world of wickedness be able to dwell on your steadfast love today.