TUESDAY, AUGUST 7
Psalm 36:1-12
Micah 2:1

Man is totally depraved.

MAN’S PRAVITY VERSUS GOD’S MAGNANIMITY

David, in this Psalm’s title, signs himself as “the servant of the LORD.” He glories in his servanthood also in Psalm 18 and 116:16. And this Psalm is given to the charge of the Chief Musician to be sung in the Temple services. It seems to be David’s study of man’s pravity and God’s magnanimity.

1. Man’s pravity (Ps 36:1- 4) is sunken to the lowest when he puts himself on such a high pedestal as to defy God. He praises not his Creator but his puny self. He is thoroughly corrupted from doing good and stupefied in his profanity and hypocrisy. He is the atheist of Psalm 14:1 and 53:1. Matthew Henry comments on Psalm 36:4: “It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his Word (Mic 2:1).”

2. The magnanimity of God (Ps 36:5-6) consists of His mercy and faithfulness that are high as the heavens, His righteousness and judgments great as the mountains and deep as the sea. This is a picture of His common grace to His creatures, both “man and beast” (Ps 36:6).

The magnanimity of God in His special grace “unto them that know thee” is given in Psalm 36:7-10, which culminates with “thy righteousness to the upright in heart” (Ps 36:10). God’s magnanimity leads His children to “put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” Other metaphors of God’s magnanimity to His children are “house, river, fountain, light” (Ps 36:8-9). God takes special care of His children. Wherever we go He is with us. This Psalm concludes with a prayer for deliverance from the wicked. So, we are taught to seek God Almighty and to refrain from temptation and be delivered from evil. Man’s pravity versus God’s magnanimity!

THOUGHT: What are my first thoughts when I awake every morning?
PRAYER: Lord, I praise and thank Thee for Thy great magnanimity.