446_Consequences of rejecting God Psalm 14 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. 7 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. A man on a hiking trip with his friends stood for a moment, gazing at the starlit sky. He murmured, almost without meaning to himself, “Do you really think all of this just happened by chance?” His question lingered in the cold air like smoke from a dying fire. What followed wasn’t a debate but a deep and honest conversation. What if God is real? And if He is, how should that change our lives? Such conversations have echoed in every generation. But Scripture declares a sobering truth. This is the jarring line with which Psalm 14 begins. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” David does not speak here of philosophical atheism, but something far deeper and more dangerous: the practical rejection of God’s presence and authority in our inner lives. There's a difference between questioning God's existence and rejecting Him in our hearts. A questioning heart may still be seeking truth, but a rejecting heart has turned away. And that rejection doesn't just affect what we think; it shapes our morality, how we live. It produces moral rottenness, in the form of corruption, injustice, and spiritual blindness. There’s a form of practical atheism that is even more dangerous than theoretical disbelief. If people profess faith in God, take part in religious observances, and pray regularly, yet if their hearts do not revere him and if they do not acknowledge His presence in their everyday choices, they reveal that they are living as though he is absent in this universe. As Alexander Maclaren said, “To strip Him of His justice and rob Him of His control is the part of a fool. For the Biblical conception of folly is moral perversity rather than intellectual feebleness, and whoever is morally and religiously wrong cannot be in reality intellectually right.” To reject God in our hearts is not merely a philosophical error. It is to become spiritually blind and morally adrift. This is why David goes on to write, “They are corrupt; their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” Without the fear of God, there is no good in man. All noble actions in human life have their source