Psalm 36 reminds me of my house painting project. Last summer I had the brilliant idea of painting the trim of our house rather than pay a painter. I quickly discovered this was a much bigger job than I expected. I knew that the preparation was important and decided to scrape and sand everything. It was at this stage that I found what was hidden beneath the old paint. Apparently in the previous paint jobs someone had just painted over bad spots. Something that was once a small spot had grown to eat away the entire depth of the wood. All of us have rotten spots, but the psalm differentiates a spot here and there from a lifestyle of rot. I don’t think anyone is immune to rot. This psalm of David begins with a thought, “concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes“. David says of this person, “For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin“. Here is the problem, most of us read that and think of SOMEONE ELSE. It is very easy to completely overlook our own faults. We rationalize our actions, reactions and words. All of us have the ability to see a speck in someone else’s eye while we can miss the plank in our own eye. I think David is talking about someone that has crossed over from an occasional stumble to one that now has a lifestyle that ignores God. Our society teaches us that peace comes by first loving our self, but the Bible teaches peace comes by first fearing God.
The psalm bypasses the rotting process and goes straight to identifying what rot looks like if uncorrected. David describes someone that is completely self-absorbed. “The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good… Even on his bed he plots evil… and does not reject what is wrong“. The person described here does not see their ugliness, their spirit has become darkened. This is not you right? Have you ever been through divorce, or been betrayed by a friend, or wanted revenge? This can be a very temporary thing, or it can last a lifetime. Hebrews 12:15 warns “See to it that… no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many“. Bitterness destroys if you ignore it, or just paint over it.
The psalm ends with the antidote to bitterness. It offers real hope to every soul that has stopped to ask “”How did I get to this place?”. It begins when we turn our heart toward God. David speaks as one who has been saved from that rotten place. This is not a patch, but a replacement. “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve both man and beast“. You might think this is easy for someone else, but your situation can’t be corrected. David is writing to you from the other side of redemption to let you know you too can be healed. He does not credit his own determination, but God’s faithfulness. God desires that you just take a small step of faith. “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.” The psalm ends by shedding more light on what peace with God looks like. “They feast on the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” God has not given up on you. David prays, “Continue Your love to those who know You“. Ephesians chapter 2 says “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God does quality work!