Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Chapter 2: Psalms 18–38

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Psalm 36 with Augustine – A Sincere Search-and-Destroy Mission for Sin The wicked have determined to sin: there is no fear of God before their eyes (v. 1). David speaks not of one person, but of a race of ungodly people who fight against themselves, by not understanding so they may live well; not because they cannot, but because they will not. So it is when people love their own sins and hate God’s Commandments. For the Word of God is your enemy if you are a friend to your ungodliness; but if you are an enemy to your ungodliness, the Word of God is your friend, as well as the enemy of your ungodliness. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin (v. 2). They work hard not to find their own sin. For there are people who try to seek out their sin, and fear to find it; because if they find it, it is said to them, “Depart from it.” Thus they seek it, but fear finding it; for they seek it deceitfully. For if they had worked sincerely rather than deceitfully, they would now have found it out and hated it; now they have found it out, but they defend it. Therefore, they worked deceitfully when they looked for it. As for the righteous, they feast on the abundance of your house (v. 8). People drowning themselves in drunkenness receive wine without measure, but lose their senses. When the righteous have received the indescribable joy of being in God’s presence, they have lost the human soul, replacing it with the deep satisfaction of the fullness of God’s House. You give them drink from your river of delights . What is that pleasure? A torrent quenching thirst. Let the one who thirsts now have hope. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt 5:6).