April 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Fools do not take God into account. "In their hearts," the center of their beings, they deny that God exists. The actions of fools are consistent with the direction of their hearts. They are corrupt; they do abominable things; they are no good. Just as faith in God is necessarily accompanied by good works, so unbelief is bound to hatch a brood of evil. When the tie with God is broken, people will fall from one wickedness into another. Not automatically and not always individually, as we see people doing, but gradually and by generations, as the Bible sees people.

It looks as if this psalm is going to be an attack on the atheists. "The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God." With serene majesty God looks down on little atheists.

But read on, for God is looking at us too. "All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is nobody who does good, not even one." Instead of attacking atheists, the psalmist tells us that in the eyes of God, all people are equally sinful.

That's how Paul read this psalm when he argued that not only wicked people but all people need the gospel. In Romans 3 he concluded that all of us must stop dividing humankind into "good guys" and "bad guys," atheistic sinners and religious do-gooders. We are all sinners.

We are not allowed to feel good about God's anger against the fools who deny him. Just when we are ready to agree with God, we are reminded that "there is nobody who does good, not even one."

In such a situation, the Old Testament cries in the words of our psalm: "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!"

And the New Testament gospel says: "give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). There is nobody who does not need to be saved from his or her sins. Not even one.

REFLECTIONS

Before we can know the height of God's grace, we must know the depths of our own sin. Reflect on your need for a Savior, and then give thanks for Jesus.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.