The Fool Has Said in His Heart

Based on Psalm 53

Opening Scripture

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. (Psalm 53:1-2)

Where We Are in the Story

We’re still in Epiphany, the season when the light of Christ breaks into the darkness. We’ve watched the Magi seek the King, sat with Jesus at the well in Samaria, and reflected on the church as the city of God. The pattern has been consistent: God’s Kingdom is advancing, his presence is being revealed, and people are confronted with a choice, will they seek him or reject him?

Today, Psalm 53 presses that choice to its starkest conclusion. It divides humanity into two categories: those who seek God and those who live as if he doesn’t exist. And it forces us to ask: Which side of that line are we actually on?

The Anatomy of Folly

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

Notice what David doesn’t say. He doesn’t say the fool argues philosophically that God doesn’t exist. He doesn’t say the fool has examined all the evidence and concluded there’s insufficient proof. The fool doesn’t arrive at atheism through careful reasoning.

The fool says in his heart there is no God. This isn’t intellectual. It’s moral. It’s volitional. It’s a decision, not a conclusion.

The fool doesn’t deny God’s existence because of a lack of evidence. Creation itself declares the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). The heavens proclaim his handiwork. The complexity of a single cell, the precision of physical laws, the existence of conscience, all of it points to a Creator.

No, the fool denies God because acknowledging God would require submission. And submission is intolerable to the autonomous self.

If there is no God, then I’m accountable to no one. I set my own rules. I define my own meaning. I’m the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.

The fool doesn’t lack information. The fool lacks humility.

Practical Atheism

But here’s where it gets uncomfortable for us. You don’t have to be an outspoken atheist to live as a practical atheist. You don’t have to deny God’s existence to function as if he doesn’t matter.
Practical atheism is when you believe in God on Sunday but live like he’s irrelevant on Monday. It’s when you affirm orthodox theology but organize your life around wealth, comfort, approval, and security. It’s when you pray when it’s convenient but make decisions as if you’re on your own.

Practical atheism looks like this:

• You pray, but you worry. You ask God for help and then spend the next week anxious, planning, scheming, trying to control outcomes.
• You read Scripture, but you don’t obey. You study the Bible like it’s literature, not the living Word of God that demands a response.
• You attend church, but you compartmentalize. You worship on Sunday and spend the rest of the week living by the values of the culture: pragmatism, careerism, consumerism, tribalism.

This is what the fool does. Not the village atheist ranting on social media. The churchgoer who nods along with sermons but never lets the truth reshape how he spends his time, his money, his energy, his influence.

God Looks Down

David says, “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”

God isn’t passive. He’s not disinterested. He’s searching. Looking. Seeking those who seek him. (See Tuesday’s devotion on the restless heart and the Hound of Heaven.)

And what does he find?

“They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3).

This is the doctrine of total depravity in a single verse. Left to ourselves, we don’t seek God. We run from him. We suppress the truth. We fashion idols, gods we can manage, gods who don’t interfere, gods who bless our plans without challenging our autonomy.

Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 3, building the case that all humanity stands guilty before God. Jew and Gentile alike. Religious and irreligious. Moral and immoral. All have sinned. All fall short. None are righteous.

And yet, and here’s where grace comes in, God still seeks. He doesn’t give up. He doesn’t walk away. In Epiphany, we celebrate that God entered his creation to redeem it. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

The question is: Are we among those who respond?

Terror Without Cause

David describes what happens to those who persist in folly: “There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror!” (Psalm 53:5).

The fool lives in constant anxiety. Why? Because a life built on the denial of God is a life built on sand. It has no foundation. No ultimate meaning. No secure hope. No transcendent purpose.
If there is no God, then:

• Death is the end. All your efforts, all your relationships, all your achievements… annihilated.
• Meaning is constructed. You have to invent your own purpose, and you know deep down it’s arbitrary.
• Morality is preference. There’s no objective right or wrong, just power dynamics and cultural consensus.
• Justice is elusive. The wicked may prosper. The innocent may suffer. And there’s no final accounting, no ultimate Judge, no righting of wrongs.

This is at least one reason why our culture is battling anxiety, depression, and despair. We’ve embraced practical atheism. We’ve organized society as if God doesn’t matter. And we’re shocked that people are anxious, lonely, and purposeless. C.S. Lewis puts it this way in The Abolition of Man,

“In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”

The fool is terrified because he has no refuge. No rock. No fortress.

But the one who seeks God? “God is the strength of his people...the stronghold of his salvation” (Psalm 53:6).

Oh, That Salvation Would Come

David ends with a longing: “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!” (Psalm 53:6).
He’s looking forward. Waiting. Hoping for the day when God will restore his people, when he will scatter the bones of those who encamp against them, when he will vindicate the righteous and judge the wicked.

And for us, living after the resurrection, we know the answer to David’s prayer. Salvation has come out of Zion. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, born in Bethlehem, crucified outside Jerusalem, raised from the dead, he is the salvation David longed for.

The folly of denying God has been answered by the wisdom of God displayed in Christ crucified. The corruption of humanity has been met by the righteousness of the God-man who lived the life we couldn’t live and died the death we deserved. The terror of a godless existence has been replaced by the peace that surpasses understanding, the peace of knowing that we belong to the God who made us, redeemed us, and will never let us go.

The Choice Before Us

So here’s the Epiphany question for today: Are you seeking God, or are you living as a practical atheist?

Not what you believe in theory. What does your calendar say? Your bank account? Your thought life? Your relationships? Your ambitions?

If someone examined your life for a week, where you spend your time, what you consume, how you make decisions, would they conclude that you’re seeking God, or would they see the functional atheism that marks so much of Western Christianity?

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about trajectory. Are you moving toward God or away from him? Are you submitting more of your life to his lordship, or are you carving out more territory where he’s not allowed to interfere?

David says God is looking. Searching. Seeking those who seek him.

The question is: Will he find you?

Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life are you living as a practical atheist, believing in God but functioning as if he’s irrelevant?
2. What would change this week if you truly believed that God is looking down, watching, seeking those who seek him?
   
3. Are you living with the terror of the fool (anxiety, meaninglessness, purposelessness) or the confidence of the one who trusts in God as his refuge?

Prayer
(Based on Psalm 53 and Psalm 14:2)

Lord, you look down from Heaven to see if there are any who understand, who seek after you. Search me, O God. Show me where I’ve been living as a practical atheist, affirming you with my lips but denying you with my life. Forgive me for the ways I’ve organized my days as if you don’t matter, made decisions as if you’re not watching, and pursued my own autonomy instead of your lordship. I don’t want to be a fool. I want to be among those who seek you, who trust you, who find their refuge in you. Break my pride. Humble my heart. And teach me to live every moment under your gaze, accountable to you, dependent on you, delighting in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Action Step

Today, conduct a brief “practical atheism audit.” Choose one area of your life (finances, schedule, entertainment, relationships) and ask: Does this area reflect that I’m seeking God, or does it reveal functional atheism? Identify one specific change you need to make this week to bring that area under God’s lordship. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Just take one step of obedience.

Benediction
(Based on Psalm 46:1 and Hebrews 13:5-6)
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The Lord is your refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So you can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.” Go in peace, and live this day as one who seeks the God who seeks you.