Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Can You See Reality? | The Writings | Psalm 36

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

What does the culture around you look like? Can you see it at face value? What cultural habits and worldviews have you subconsciously adopted? In today's episode, Keith uses Psalm 36 to discuss the importance of seeing reality clearly. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 36

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. In 2005, the popular novelist David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College. He started the speech off with a short parable that goes like this. He said, there are two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, morning boys, how's the water? and the two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes,

what the heck is water? You see, the two younger fish who've spent their whole lives swimming around in water, don't know what water is. Why? Well, because they've never known anything other than water. They've never needed to define water. What could life possibly be like without water? Later in his speech, Wallace explains his parable. He says, the point of the fish story is that the most obvious important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. I think Wallace is onto something. I think the parable forces us to ask an uncomfortable question about our lives. As 21st century, Western Americans, what's the water we swim in? What are the realities that are so obvious that they're hard to see

and talk about? What are the worldviews and habits that we've adopted without even realize? much less examining. Well, today we're going to look at Psalm 36, which has a lot to say about the cultural water we swim in. But to do this well, I think we're going to need to step out of the water for a second so that we can examine it and compare it to the truth we find in the Psalms. So what is the water that we swim in today? Well, in the past few years, many people in the academic world have taken a swing at answering that question. Although there's different explanations and opinions on the topic, everyone seems to agree on one thing. As 21st century Westerners, the water we swim in is self-expressive individualism.

Now, unlike most scholars, I went to public school. I don't get paid the big bucks for using big words. So instead of calling it self-expressive individualism, I just like to call it the religion of self. We swim in the water of self, and most of the time, we don't even realize it. Think about it for a second. We live in the age of selfies, in the age of self-care and social media. We use cultural slogans like, follow your heart. You do you. Be true to yourself. We define freedom as the right to express ourselves in any way we'd like. Authenticity is one of our culture's highest values.

If you're having a bad day, meditate and get connected to your inner self. Are you confused about your career? find your passion. Are you stressed out? Take a mental health day. To put it more bluntly, our culture has come to believe that the key to the good life is found within ourselves. This is the religion of self. Before we move on to hear what Psalm 36 has to say, we need to take just a moment to recognize that we all swim in this water. It's not that some people don't and some do. It's not that the religious don't and the irreligious do. No, this isn't a time to start pointing fingers. Whether we like it or not, we have all been molded and shaped by the religion of self.

I think it's always a good reminder for us that when we hear God's word, we should examine our own hearts before thinking about anyone else. So what does Psalm 36 have to say about our cultural water? What does God say about the religion of self? Here's how the Psalm starts. I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked. There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes, they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. In these first two verses of Psalm 36, David records a message from God about the wicked. And what does God notice about them? He notices their eyes. In Psalm 36, the difference between the righteous and the wicked is what their eyes are fixed on. And in these first two verses, we learned that the eyes

of the wicked are fixed on themselves. Let's go back to those verses. Again, verse one, there is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes, they flatter themselves. For the wicked, instead of looking to God and fearing him, they set their eyes on themselves. They enjoy looking at themselves, so much so that they don't even really see anything wrong with themselves. They don't even see their own sin. In verses three and four, David describes what happens when people fix their eyes on themselves. The words of their mouth are wicked and deceitful. they fail to act wisely or do good. Even on their beds, they plot evil.

They commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong. When people fix their eyes on themselves, they begin to trust in their own wisdom instead of gods. What God calls evil, they start calling good. And what God calls good, they start calling evil. This kind of thinking is at the heart of all human sin, no matter what culture you live in. Think about the story of Adam and Eve. The serpent tells Eve that if she eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she will become like God. This is part of what's so appealing to Eve. She wants to sit on

God's throne. She wants to be in control. She wants to decide what's best for her. She wants to define good and evil. So ultimately, Eve chooses her own wisdom instead of God's. And this is exactly what we human beings have been doing ever since. We constantly choose to trust ourselves instead of God. We tell ourselves to follow our hearts. But the Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all else. We say, be true to yourself. But the Bible says that only God's way leads to truth. Proverbs 1412 tells us, there's a way that seems right to a person, but it ends in death. Are there areas of your life where you fall prey to the religion of self? Have you noticed the water that you've been swimming in? I don't think it's a coincidence that the culture that worships the self is the same

culture that's plagued with a mental health crisis. See, if we become the main character of our story, that means the pressure is on us. We're the ones responsible for our happiness and for our success. We're the ones in control of our future. That means it's all on us. In the religion of self, we are our own savior. I don't know about you, but I don't think I have what it takes to bear that weight, which is why I think our culture is in desperate need of an intervention, because we spend most of our lives drunk. No, not drunk on alcohol. We spend most of our days drunk on ourselves. We use work as a way to bolster our reputation. We go on social media to boast about our vacations. We even use spirituality as a way to make ourselves look good, clean, and put together.

We're obsessed with ourselves, and it's killing us. But fortunately, Psalm 36 offers us a different way to live. In the very next verse, David shows us something better to fix our eyes on. Listen to what he says starting in verse five. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains. Your justice is like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, oh God. People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 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. Instead of being like the wicked who fixed their eyes on themselves, David points our eyes to God. God is the one in

charge of the world. God is the one who is enthroned in the heavens. God is the one who preserves creation, and because God reigns, we don't have to try to make ourselves be kings. See, God defines true freedom like this. God is God, and you're not. And that freedom is good news for us. We don't have to bear the weight of the world. Instead of being ridden with anxiety, we can take refuge in the shadow of his wings. Instead of being plagued with discontentment, we drink from God's river of delights. Ultimately, Psalm 36 points us to Jesus. Because in Jesus, God lived the perfect human life. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Jesus trusted his father's wisdom. When Jesus was about to be crucified, he prayed that his father's

will would be done. And because of Jesus' death on the cross, our truest identity is not in ourselves, but in Christ. In Jesus, God bore the weight of the world on our behalf. We don't have to be our own saviors because Jesus is the true Savior. We don't have to be anxious about our future because God holds our future in his hands. Because of Jesus, self-obsessed people like us have hope. How would your life look different if you trusted God's wisdom instead of your own? What would happen if we began to fix her eyes on Jesus instead of ourselves. If we are going to swim upstream against the religion of self, we need constant reminders of our identity in Christ. We need to read our Bible to remind ourselves that God is the main character of our story. We need lives full of prayer to remind ourselves

that God is in control. We need friends that will point out our own selfishness and point us to the grace that's found in Jesus, ultimately the religion of self crumbles from the weight of our sin. But the religion of Jesus, well, that stands firm because he has freed us from our sin. So today, don't swim in the water of our anxious self-absorbed culture. Instead, live in light of the freedom that's found only in the gospel.