Ps. 53.2 (invisible to God)

“God / looks down / from heaven
on the children / of humanity
to see / if anyone / is acting wisely
to see / if there is anyone / who seeks / after God.” 

The first in perspective from the ‘heart of the atheist’ to God in heaven is crucial to grasp. Firstly, the psalm began with the statement of the atheist that “there is no god”. Here, immediately, the scene shifts to God. It is a profoundly damning shift in perspective as, without justification or preface, the one who has been denied is seen looking down from the source of all power (“heaven”). In every sense, this verse will contradict the fool. The fact that God looks down from a massive height (‘from heaven’) is not at all to imply his aloofness or distance from creation. Indeed, quite the opposite. The ‘higher’ God sits above creation, the greater is his sovereignty and control over creation (as in, the higher the king’s thrown sits signals his authority over his people). Furthermore, ‘heaven’ is not to be understood as a realm in opposition to earth as much as the place from which all power that infuses earth resides. It would not be too far to say that this scene shift is one to the celestial court of the King. And his ‘looking’ is clearly not his mere ‘gaze’ or passive observation. His ‘look’ is a searching that expresses his sovereignty; it is a kingly gaze that is examining and interrogating the earth. Whenever God ‘sees’ the earth, it never has a connotation of passivity but a prelude to activity. This sense of supreme authority is confirmed in the next line: “looks down – on the children of humanity.” Within his gaze humans appear as mere ‘children’; their relegation to the status beneath their parents is to serve the sense that God’s gaze levels everything down, reduces them on the hierarchical ladder. The purpose of his search (examination and interrogation) is to see if anyone acts wisely and ‘searches for God’. Not surprisingly, the sense of danger for atheist is beginning to emerge. He contradicts both propositions: whereas God looks for wisdom, he is a fool who does no good; whereas God looks for those who search for him, he says in his heart “there is no god”. Importantly, this renders the fool invisible to God in a certain manner. We have yet to see, however, what it means to be “unseen” by God when he is searching for goodness.