“In their own eyes, [the wicked] flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.” (Psalm 36:2)
In verse 2 of Psalm 36, the poet is speaking about those who have no fear of God or regard for who He is. Such a lack of regard or thought for the one who is Himself goodness, and who is transcendent -above all else, unsurprisingly will lead people to set their attention elsewhere. What captures our attention if it is not God? The poet aptly observes, it is ourselves. We are consumed with ourselves when we are not consumed with God. Put God’s holiness on the back burner, and we’re as self-assured as a penguin on ice. Or, as the psalmist puts it, we flatter ourselves.
This reminds me of Paul’s argument about false “super apostles” in his letter to the Corinthians.
He writes,
“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves (like the super apostles do). When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12)
Paul echoes what the psalmist points out; when we lose sight of God, we put our sight on ourselves. And when we fix our eyes on ourselves, we don’t see ourselves clearly. We conveniently flatter ourselves and are blind to our own mistakes and our own sin. When we measure ourselves by our own standards, we find it all too easy to drop our standards and make ourselves look better. How convenient. Pure genius.
Smart people called social psychologists name this the “self-serving bias” where we have a tendency to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
What would Paul say about that? I love his simple words, “that is not wise!” Makes me laugh. It makes me laugh because that is so much of what happens in the world around us. In a world that ignores God we foolishly think that we are better than we are (while simultaneously thinking that most other people are worse than we are).
But lest we think the problem is “out there”, let us remember that the speck in our eye is sizeable, some would even say ‘plank-like’. As Christians we know all too well what we are capable of. We are very capable of ignoring God and thinking too highly of ourselves.
What is the antidote to this problem?
The psalmist puts it well,
“Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.” (Psalm 36:5–6)
To offset the magnetic pull of self-absorption in our thoughts, we should fix our gaze back on God once again. And not just once, but again and again. The glorious holiness of God is infinite. The poem is at pains to portray God’s goodness – It reaches the heavens, touches the skies, it summits the highest peaks, and it delves the deepest depths.
In our lives we know how tempted we are to foolishly think of ourselves more than we ought. But let these 2 verses guide us to a greater vista – to look upon the glories of God. While it is all too easy to flatter ourselves, it is an impossible task to overstate the glory of God.
Bigvai and Shiphrah 