The picture David presents to the reader is the divine Being conducting a systematic and comprehensive search around the world. Perhaps it is an allusion to “the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6), or “the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.” (Zechariah 4:10) Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the Lord is leaving no stone unturned in His quest to find someone, anyone, who has an interest in personally knowing Him.
What a sad indictment on mankind that for all His looking, the Lord has not been able to find a single person who wanted Him. The truth is that the deeper His inspection went, the worse the news. His investigation of the human race discovers a couple of troubling facts.
First, the person mentioned here is representative of the entire human race. The translators were correct in labeling this person an “impious fool” because, biblically speaking, folly is always associated with sinfulness. But we must be careful not to think of this as only applying to blatant sinners. David quickly corrects any such notion with the next sentence: “not one does anything good!” And just to make sure there is no mistaking what he is saying, he repeats it in even stronger terms in the last sentence: “no, not even one.”
The clear implication is that this describes the universal condition of the human race. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul later added. (Romans 3:23)
Not only is the Lord’s conclusion about mankind pervasive in its extent, it is also thorough in its depth.
The Lord is pictured as going right into man’s heart—the very core of his being—to discover what makes him tick. It is there that He finds that man has considered the existence of God and has arrived at the insane conclusion that “there is no God.”
The reason he has developed this conviction only makes the matter worse: He doesn’t want to acknowledge a supreme Being because he doesn’t want to answer to Him for his actions. He is inherently selfish and desires experiences which God has forbidden.
What hope does fallen man have? His hope is not in himself but in the Seeker of lost souls. Jesus described Himself as a shepherd who had lost one of his sheep and goes searching until he finds it. And when He does—here is the picture of God’s loving heart—“he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” (Luke 15:6)
What can we do but fall on our faces in utter gratitude?