Today’s Passage: Psalm 36
This psalm begins with an oracle about the wicked, and the very first thing it tells us is that there is no fear of God before his eyes. His conceit is so full that he cannot even hate his own sin. Then, without any warning at all, the psalm turns to the sheer size of God’s loving devotion, and it reaches for the largest things it can find: the heavens, the clouds, the mountains, and the deepest sea. David wrote it, and the heading names him the servant of the LORD. That heading is part of the text, given to us along with everything that follows.
As you read, hold this: There is no fear of God. Your loving devotion reaches the heavens.
Context David, the servant of the LORD
The psalm opens with its own heading, For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. It is that last phrase that makes the heading unusual, the way David names himself the servant of the LORD. And it is the man who serves Him who is able to see both rooms at once: a heart with no fear of God in it, and a devotion so vast that it will not fit inside the sky.
Psalm 36:1-4 (BSB)
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD.
¹ An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes. ² For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin. ³ The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing. ⁴ Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.
There is no fear of God here, and eyes too full of conceit to hate their own sin. Even lying on his bed the wicked man is still plotting, and he will not turn his back on evil. These are hard lines, and we teach them as they stand rather than sanding them smooth.
Psalm 36:5-9 (BSB)
⁵ Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. ⁷ How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! ⁸ They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights. ⁹ For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
This turn is the whole psalm. First there was no fear of God at all, and then, without a pause, comes all of this. Loving devotion that reaches to the heavens, faithfulness as high as the clouds, refuge in the shadow of His wings, and a maqor, pronounced mah-KORE. Strong's H4726, spring, fountain, source. It is paired here with the word חַיִּים (chayim), pronounced khai-YEEM, meaning life. This is not simply one gift among many. It is the very spring that life itself comes flowing from, and in His light we see light. . In Your light we see light.
Study notes Life, and light
John takes up this same pair of words, life and light, and he gives them a name.
"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." John 1:4 (BSB)
What this psalm says of God, John says of Christ. The life and the light are the same, and it is one gospel from beginning to end. The fountain we read of here has a name, and His name is Jesus.
Psalm 36:10-12 (BSB)
¹⁰ Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹ Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹² There the evildoers lie fallen, thrown down and unable to rise.
The prayer here is that God would extend that same devotion to those who know Him. And the proud, the ones who had no fear of God at all, are shown fallen, thrown down and unable to rise again. Through the whole of it, His loving devotion still reaches to the heavens.
There is no fear of God. Your loving devotion reaches the heavens.