Psalm 53

1 The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.

3 Everyone has turned away,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

4 Will the evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on God?

5 There they were, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.

6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

Psalm 53:1-3 reminds me of the word SIN. Many of us associate sin with murder, anger, lust, stealing, etc. Yes, sin encompasses all of the above-mentioned.

But it doesn't end there. The word SIN has the letter 'I' in the middle. Basically, when each of us enthrone the letter 'I' (which mean myself) in our hearts, we will want to do things our own ways. We don't want God to interfere in our lives.


Before I was a Christian, I was always doing things to satisfy my own desires. For instance, when I was in university year 1, I told myself that there are only five things that I want to focus on: 1. Girl; 2. Studies; 3. Basketball; 4. Friends; 5. Family. In a nutshell, I just want to feel happy myself. My main focus wasn't to make others happy.

Now that I'm a Christian, I learn to put God first in my life (at least I try). Hence, to be a blessing to others is a higher focus now than satisfying my own desires. I pray that the letter 'I' will be taken away from me more each day.


Things to ponder
1. How self-centred do you think you are? Rate yourself 1 to 10 (10 means most self-centred).
2. What are two things that you do that put the letter 'I' right in the centre of your life (means want to do things your own way, and not God's way)?
3. Pray and commit to God to press on in putting away the letter 'I' in your life.

Click here for Pastor YC's reflection on Psalm 53