Psalm 36 is like a mirror that reveals not just what we see of ourselves on the surface, but what’s underneath. I’m sure I’ve read this psalm before, but the first four verses caught me off guard. I don’t remember seeing it so clearly.

Psalm 36:1-4 – Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wickedness upon his bed; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he does not despise evil.

These verses describe the condition of the one who does not know God, but it is also a warning to those of us who belong to Him by faith in His Son, Jesus. Sin speaks to us deep in our hearts, telling us we do not need to fear God. Sin flatters us in our own eyes, even as we realize we are sinful, deceiving us that we can turn away from God’s ways and go down the path of what our flesh desires. The NLT says it this way: Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.

This is easy to observe in the unrighteous who refuse to acknowledge – or even hate – God. Their sins are obvious. But we also, as believers, can underestimate the power and influence of sin. Even as people who truly do love Jesus, we have the capacity to excuse ourselves. We give ourselves a pass on things we don’t like to call sin: a harsh word spoken in the heat of a moment, a little white lie to preserve our dignity, the indulgence of a “little” temptation, or the desire for more things, which we dare not call coveting. We lie to ourselves, soothing our conscience that we are better than the outright sinner.

Oh, how deceptive sin is, and how it goes against our flesh to acknowledge it! Thankfully, this psalm doesn’t end there. The psalmist, David, gives us hope!

Psalm 36:5-9 – Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

God sees our weakness and extends lovingkindness – mercy and favor and grace. The answer to the dilemma of sin’s pervasive darkness is to turn fully into the beauty and glory and light of God: the brightness of His righteousness…the justice of His judgments…the infinite span of His faithfulness. He calls us to enter the refuge of His abundance, to find the abundant life Jesus promised us (John 10:10). We must allow Him to expose the deceptions in our hearts and turn away from the flattering call of sin. What a wonderful exchange – the shallow satisfaction of a fleeting pleasure to our flesh replaced with the overflowing river of God’s delights, the fountain of life.

In Your light, we see light.

If we want to escape sin – leave the darkness – we must live in the light of God. It’s only in the light of God – His truth, His Word, His righteousness – that we realize how wrong and deceived our human hearts have become. Only God can show us the true condition of our hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 – The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.

The last three verses of the psalm are David’s prayer in light of his tendency to flatter himself about his own sin.

Psalm 36:10-12 – O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the doers of iniquity have fallen; they have been thrust down and cannot rise.

David knows what it is to give in to sin.

David knows what it is to live in the light.

And he doesn’t want to go back to his sin. He asks for God to protect his heart from being influenced by the arrogance and pride of the sinful influences that surround him. One translation reads the foot of pride come not to me; and the hand of the sinner move me not. In other words, “Protect my heart, O Lord! Protect it from the outside influence of others, as well as the deception that may come from within.”

The mirror of God’s word is the light of God. In Your light, we see light. May it be true for you and me.

James 1:22-25 – But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.