Psalm 14: A Stubborn Hope In God

Evil can feel loud, rewarded, and untouchable. If you’ve ever looked at the world and thought, “This isn’t right, and I can’t fix it,” Psalm 14 gives you words for that moment and a way to keep your faith from collapsing under the weight of it. 

We walk through Psalm 14 in the New Living Translation and sit with its stark honesty: people can be corrupt, their actions can be evil, and whole communities can live as if God doesn’t matter. David doesn’t sugarcoat what that produces. He describes a world where the vulnerable get consumed, the oppressed get blocked, and prayer gets ignored. And yet, the Psalm refuses to end in despair. It keeps pointing back to a God who sees, protects, and restores, even when the timeline feels slow. 

We also get practical about what to do with that burning frustration. Instead of letting anger turn into cynicism, we talk about turning that energy into prayer and intercession, asking God to move and offering ourselves to be used. The goal is not denial. The goal is stubborn hope in God, the kind that can tell the truth about what’s wrong while still trusting that joy is coming, whether in this life or the next. 

If you need language for your prayers and strength for your hope, press play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show. What’s one thing you’re carrying today that you want to turn into a prayer?

Transcript

Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor

Psalm 14 And Stubborn Hope

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Brandon. Today, Psalm chapter 14. And today's title is A Stubborn Hope in God. A stubborn hope in God. One of the things I love about the book of Psalms is it's it's looking around at all the different things. And sometimes the enemies are on the outside, sometimes they're on the inside. But no matter what, most of them end with, but you know what, God, you are faithful and you're gonna make a way. And that's one of the things I love about the book of Psalms is that relentless, stubborn hope in God. And we're gonna see a little bit more of that today. So if you've got your Bibles, got your Bible journals, we're gonna be reading out the New Living Translation, get all that ready to go. And in just a moment, we're gonna get started. But before that, make sure you take just a moment, like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you go into the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information by going to thebibelbreakdown.com because the more we dig, the more we find. Well,

Reading Psalm 14 Aloud

SPEAKER_01 1:28

once again, we are going through the book of Psalms. And remember, we said the book of Proverbs, it helps us relate to people, but the book of Psalms helps us relate to God. And the book of Psalms is the soundtrack of life. It is the songbook of the people of God spanning over a thousand years. And the Holy Spirit inspired several of these. Almost, almost half of them are written by David. As is we have already seen in just the past few Psalms, that his life was a roller coaster of going through ups, downs, and everything in between. And it appears as though at this point, this was written during a time when David sees injustice. So we don't know if this is him as a king, feeling as though as, you know, like there's only so much that he can do. God, you're gonna have to do the rest. Or maybe it was during a time when he wasn't yet king and maybe he was serving under Saul and he sees injustice happening. And he just realized, you know what? People are just not always good, but the Lord is, and the Lord's always going to make it good in the end. And so if you've ever dealt with that, this psalm is for you. And so if you're ready, let's read this together. Psalm 14, verse 1 says this only fools say in their heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their actions are evil. Not one of them does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race. He looks down to see if anyone is truly wise, and if anyone seeks God. But no, they have all turned away. They have all become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one. Who are will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn't think of praying to the Lord. Terror will grip them. For God is the one who will uh God for God is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the Lord will protect his people. Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When the Lord restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

When The Wicked Prosper

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So in other words, something is going on here, and and the enemies of the people of God are coming against the people of God. And David is like, This is not good, but this will not always stand. At the right time, God will always make a way. I refuse to give up on the Lord. And what we see throughout the life of David is yes, the enemies of God continue to try to attack them, but they were continually defeated by the people of God. And that's the the hope that God's word gives us is that when we feel as though that everything's going wrong and that the wicked are prospering and all this kind of stuff, that we can take that to God and say, God, it feels like bad people are doing bad things for bad reasons and they're getting paid for it. I mean, things are going well. God, I'm gonna, I'm, I need you to do something about this. I can't do anything about it myself. I'm trying and it's not working. Like we can be honest with God about those things and then say that you know what? I trust you that at the right time, you're gonna do what's right. And he says at the end of it, he said, the people of God will shout with joy. I trust that even though it looks bad now, it ends with a note of joy. If not in this life, in the next. And can I tell you, that's the same kind of stubborn hope we can have in the Lord. Because God is more interested in joy than we are. So maybe here's your

Turn Frustration Into Prayer

SPEAKER_01 4:55

next step. Today, what if all the things that bother you about what's wrong in the world, what's wrong in stuff like this, instead of just getting mad and getting frustrated, what if you turn that energy and that passion into a prayer and just tell God about it and just intercede for this world, intercede for the corruption and say, God, I just pray that you will have your way. Use me to make as much of a difference as you want. And I trust you that by the time it's all said and done, you will make the difference. And watch what happens to your heart

Closing Prayer And Blessing

SPEAKER_01 5:27

today. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you see us and that you know us and you're with us. I pray you will give us the courage and the boldness to have stubborn hope and to pray and to seek you in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Anyway, what God's Word says in Psalm 34, verse 1, say it with me. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Psalm chapter 15.