A Fool? Me?

Psalm 14 is pretty short, but many are familiar with the first verse  The Fool Says in His Heart, There is no God.  Initially I thought this was a great attack for an atheist thinker.  I would think "HAH!  I don't care how smart you are Mr. Stephen Hawking, THE BIBLE SAYS YOU ARE A FOOL!"   It's true, that because Stephen Hawking doesn't believe in any kind of god, David would consider him a fool.  But not the same kind of fool that I was thinking of.  Let's face it, Stephen Hawking has got to be at least... 3 times smarter than I am!  (Zoolander reference)  and in a worldly sense, is as far away from foolish that any intellectual can be. 

So I discovered that the Hebrew Translation for fool in verse 1 is "Nabal".  And a more accurate translation for "nabal" is a moral fool, not an intellectual fool. 

Re-read verse 1 like this, "A moral fool says in his heart, There is No God".  So again, while I was pointing my finger at Stephen Hawking like, "You're a fool, because the Bible says so!" God would shake his head and say "Zane, first, remove the plank out of your eye.  Secondly, many times you've made selfish decisions because in YOUR heart, you have sinned and you have essentially said I am not real".    Ouch...   How many times have I made selfish sinful choices, because for a moment, I chose to ignore the Holy Spirit.  Too many to count honestly, and today is the first time that I've ever felt that verse 1 was speaking directly to me and not just to people who don't believe in God.

Back when I was in a youth group, a speaker said two things that I will never forget.  1) Have a constant awareness of God's presence and 2) Moments make up a lifetime.  Having that constant awareness means we're never feeling or saying that "There is no God", which means we aren't being fools.  This awareness needs to be constant,  as in every single moment.  Sometimes we may give in here and there, but if we try to make good decisions based on knowing God is with us, we are sure to have life full of joy and lasting fulfillment, rather than foolish regrets.

Father in Heaven, we confess that we sometimes forget you are here.  We turn our backs to you so we can do as we foolishly please. I thank you for this Psalm and thank you for humbling me so that you are speaking to believers as much as you are speaking about non-believers.  I pray that we are constantly aware of your loving presence, and that we shall never say in our hearts that there is No God.  I pray that this mentality allows to deepen our relationship with you and further your Kingdom.  

Amen