From foolishness to faith
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God,” but faith says, “I need God.” Where the fool clings to his sin, faith lets go and clings to Christ.
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. OF DAVID.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is his refuge.Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. (Psalm 14:1-7)
The condition of man
What is the most dangerous lie we tell ourselves about humanity? If we were to ask people, both believers and unbelievers, about the nature of man, I suspect many would say humanity is inherently good. At the very least, most would claim, “There’s a little good in all of us.” Some might even say we are born morally neutral, as though we are blank slates who become good or bad based on the choices we make.
But what if this common belief is not only wrong but dangerously misleading?
If we believe that people are born good, or at least morally neutral, it naturally follows that we would view salvation as something we can earn. Many people think that if our good deeds outweigh our bad ones, we will be welcomed into heaven. If not, they hope God will show us grace and overlook our faults.
This, however, is not what Scripture teaches. The Bible makes it clear that man is not good. We are not even neutral. As David writes in Psalm 14:3, “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
If you’ve raised children, this truth becomes hard to deny. No one teaches a child how to lie, disobey, or be selfish, yet these behaviors come naturally. Where do these impulses originate if not from within? The Bible gives us the answer. The prophet Jeremiah declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer 17:9). Our problem is not merely that we commit sins. Our very nature is sinful. As David confesses in another psalm, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). We are born with a corrupt nature from the moment of conception.
This is not a pleasant truth to dwell on, but it is foundational to understanding the human condition. David wrote an entire song about it, and not just for personal reflection. He intended for this psalm to be sung by the congregation. Notice the inscription at the top: “To the choirmaster.” David wanted God’s people to sing about their depravity, not to wallow in guilt, but to remind themselves of what God has saved them from. Yes, we should sing about God’s mercy and salvation, but we must never forget the depths of sin from which he rescues us. He saves us from ourselves.
The fool’s heart
Psalm 14:1 opens with a striking declaration: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” But what does it mean to be a fool in this context? The word “fool” here does not refer to someone who lacks intelligence. Instead, it describes a person who is morally and spiritually blind. He may be brilliant in many areas of life, but he is senseless when it comes to God. The fool’s problem is not intellectual; it is a matter of the heart. He may not always say with his mouth that there is no God, but deep down, he lives as though God does not exist.
When we think of someone like this, we often picture outspoken atheists such as Richard Dawkins. Dawkins, a well-known critic of religion, once said, “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.” In his book The God Delusion, Dawkins argues that science has made belief in God obsolete. To him, faith is foolishness.
Yet Scripture turns this accusation on its head. Hebrews 11:3 tells us, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.” In other words, it is not the evidence that compels us to believe; it is faith that opens our eyes to the truth. Only through faith can we truly understand the world around us and our place in it.
The fool, however, refuses to see this. His problem is not a lack of evidence. Consider the people in Jesus’ day who witnessed his miracles firsthand. They saw signs and wonders that they could not deny, yet they still refused to believe. Instead of acknowledging Christ’s divine power, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons” (Mt 12:24).
The fool’s rejection of God is not due to ignorance or lack of proof. It is a deliberate denial. David emphasizes this when he writes, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps 14:1). This rejection is not just an intellectual position but a deeply rooted defiance. It springs from the core of his being, affecting how he sees the world and how he lives his life. He may even be religious outwardly, but in his heart, he denies God’s rightful place.
This kind of foolishness is not limited to outspoken atheists like Dawkins. The Bible warns that it can be found in those who claim to believe in God while living in ways that show otherwise. Many people profess faith with their lips but, in their hearts, say, “No God.” This defiance is part of the fallen human condition.
A broader foolishness
David’s words in Psalm 14:1 are not just aimed at the outspoken atheists of the world. The foolishness he describes runs much deeper and is far more widespread than a simple denial of God’s existence. This foolishness exists in the hearts of many who, on the surface, may profess belief in God while living in a way that denies him.
Paul sheds light on this in Romans 1. He writes:
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23)
These words describe the pagan Gentiles of Paul’s day, but they echo David’s psalm in several ways.
Notice how Paul describes their hearts as darkened. They knew of God but refused to acknowledge him as Lord. Instead, they lived according to their own desires, exchanging the truth of God for a lie. These were not people who outright denied the existence of gods. They were religious, worshiping idols and participating in spiritual rituals. Yet their foolishness lay in their rejection of the one true God in favor of substitutes.
This type of foolishness is not limited to the ancient world. It is still alive today. Many people may claim to believe in God or some higher power, but their lives reveal something very different. They acknowledge God with their words but deny him in their hearts. They live as though God has no real authority over them, preferring to create their own versions of spirituality that fit their desires. This is no different from the idolatry Paul described.
Even those who claim to worship the God of the Bible can fall into this trap. In Isaiah 29:13, God speaks of the people of Judah and says, “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.” They were going through the motions of religion—offering sacrifices, saying the right things—but their hearts were not devoted to God. They were fools in the sense that they thought outward rituals could substitute for genuine faith and obedience.
This broader foolishness, then, is not just about denying God’s existence. It is about living in a way that denies his rule over our lives. The fool may profess belief in God but say in his heart, “No God.” He refuses to live under God’s authority, trusting instead in his own wisdom, and in doing so, he becomes blind to the truth. This is the foolishness that pervades all of fallen humanity.
The remedy of faith
After diagnosing the condition of humanity as foolish, corrupt, and defiant, the question remains: Is there any hope for such a people? David offers a glimpse of hope toward the end of Psalm 14 when he writes, “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!” (Ps 14:7). This cry for deliverance points to the one remedy for the foolishness that grips the human heart: faith in God’s salvation.
The Bible does not leave us in despair over our sin and corruption. Though Psalm 14 paints a grim picture of human nature, it also directs our gaze toward a solution that does not come from within ourselves. It comes from God. David cries out for salvation, and the fulfillment of that cry is found in Jesus Christ. He is the answer to the depravity and rebellion of the human heart.
Paul explains this in Romans 3, where he picks up the themes from Psalm 14. After establishing that all of humanity—Jew and Gentile alike—are under sin, he declares the good news of the gospel: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Ro 3:21, 22). This is the remedy. The righteousness we lack and cannot achieve on our own is given to us through faith in Christ.
Faith, however, is more than mere intellectual assent. It is not simply agreeing that God exists or that Jesus is the Savior. Genuine faith involves trusting in Christ’s finished work on the cross. It means recognizing that we are unable to save ourselves, that we are the fools David describes, and turning to God for mercy. As Paul writes, “We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Ro 3:24, 25).
This is where the foolishness of man is reversed. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God,” but faith says, “I need God.” The fool rejects God’s authority, but faith submits to it, trusting in God’s plan of salvation rather than our own efforts. Where the fool clings to his sin, faith lets go and clings to Christ.
This is why Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith is the only path that leads out of foolishness and into righteousness. It is not by our works, our wisdom, or our efforts. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
In this sense, faith is the ultimate remedy for the condition of the human heart. It reorients us from denial and defiance to trust and submission. Through faith, we move from being fools who reject God to being part of the generation of the righteous, as Psalm 14:5 describes. The good news of the gospel is that though we are all naturally fools, God offers us the gift of faith that brings salvation and transforms us into his people.
The call to salvation
As we reflect on the stark reality that Psalm 14 presents, we are left with a sobering truth: we are all, by nature, fools who say in our hearts, “There is no God” (Ps 14:1). Whether we outright deny him or merely live as though he has no authority over our lives, our natural condition is one of rebellion and corruption. We have all turned aside. There is none who does good (Ps 14:3).
Yet, this psalm does not leave us without hope. It beckons us toward the salvation that comes from God. David’s cry, “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!” points us to the ultimate answer to human foolishness and sin—Jesus Christ (Ps 14:7). God sent his Son to save us, not because we deserved it, but because of his great mercy and grace.
The remedy is clear. It is not found in our efforts or our ability to do good works. The law reveals our sin, not our righteousness. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:20, “By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” We are saved through faith in Christ alone. His righteousness becomes ours when we trust in his perfect life, his atoning death, and his victorious resurrection.
But there is a call, and it is urgent. We cannot come to God unless we first recognize our need. G.K. Chesterton famously answered the question, “What is wrong with the world?” with two simple words: “I am.” Before we can embrace the gift of salvation, we must confess that we are the problem. We are the fools in Psalm 14. We are sinners in need of a Savior.
The invitation is clear. Scripture calls us to turn to God in faith, to call upon him for mercy and grace. As David cries out in the psalm, “The LORD is his refuge” (Ps 14:6). If we seek refuge in the Lord, we will find it. If we call upon him, he will hear us. Romans 10:13 promises, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is the call to salvation. Do not continue down the path of foolishness and defiance. Do not rely on your own righteousness or assume that you are good enough. God’s Word has made it clear: “There is none who does good, not even one” (Ps 14:3). But there is good news. Christ has done what we could never do. He has secured our salvation. He has offered us his righteousness in exchange for our sin. All that remains is for us to repent and believe.
Today, will you call upon the Lord? Will you turn from the foolishness of self-reliance and place your trust in Christ alone? The gift of salvation is freely offered. Come and receive it by faith. Let the fool’s heart be transformed, and let the Lord be your refuge.
Recommended reading
The Gospel’s Power and Message by Paul Washer
Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray
The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson
The Total Depravity of Man by Arthur Pink