Psalm 36 is exquisite. Take a look
at the structure of this psalm with me. It started by painting a
picture of how awful people are, how evil their intentions are and
how corrupt their desire are, and then it jumps without preamble into
praising the might and mercy of the Lord. The jump is sudden and the
contrast so jarring that it reminds me of the end of Romans 7. God's
magnificence drowns out and consumes lesser realities.
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| Photo By John-Morgan |
As humans we are objects of corruption.
We can see it easily when we look around at each other, but the
psalmist only briefly directs our attention to corruption and
failure, and this he does only as a context for God's righteousness.
The purpose of the psalmist is to directs our attention to the Lord
who is so stunningly complete, so majestic, and so perfect that he
contradicts all that is human. Yet this perfect God loves and
protects imperfect men; as opposite as he is, he persists in his
loving pursuit of of humanity, full of transformative love and
compassion.
