The Fountain of Life

Psalm 36's title says it is For the Chief Musician and is By David, the servant of Yahweh. It opens with a revelation about the disobedience of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. The wicked man flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin. His words are iniquity and deceit. He has stopped being wise and doing good. He plots iniquity on his bed and sets himself in a way that is not good. Sin has blinded him to himself.

Then David lifts his eyes from the wicked to God, and the contrast is huge. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal. God's character is as high as the sky, as solid as mountains, and as deep as the sea.

The psalm then celebrates what God gives. How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of his house and drink from the river of his pleasures. For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light. In the New Testament, Jesus says, I am the light of the world (John 8:12). David closes by asking God to continue his loving kindness and not let pride or the hand of the wicked drive him away, for the workers of iniquity are fallen.