Neville Goddard on Psalms 53:1-6 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Psalms 53 in context

Scripture Focus

1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

2God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

3Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.

5There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.

6Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psalms 53:1-6

Biblical Context

Plainly, Psalm 53 depicts the fool who denies God and people who fall into corruption. It also lifts a cry for deliverance when a coming return restores God's people.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within the temple of my own consciousness the fool's cry 'There is no God' is the ego's noise. The eternal God is the I AM—awareness that I am and that I am becoming. When Psalm 53 says God looked down to see if there were any that understood and sought Him, I hear that as the inner gaze of my own realization, turning toward understanding and desire for God. All of humanity, all states of mind, have gone back; yet this is not a condemnation but a description of consciousness divided from its source. The deliverance spoken of is not a distant event but a return: the return of the inner nation Zion, the sanctuary of awareness within me. The workers of iniquity lack true knowledge because they refuse to call upon God; when I call upon God within, fear dissolves and the scattered bones of attack are put to flight. Israel shall be glad—my higher nature waking to joy as captivity ends and I live from the promised return. Deliverance is simply the recognition that God is here, now, in me, as me.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: In a moment of stillness, assume the feeling, 'There is a God within me; I seek Him now.' Then imagine Zion as a light within and feel the release of captivity as you dwell there.