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The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek {Him.} All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” (Psalm 10:4, NAU)

An atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman. (Unknown)

    It seems to me that there is less philosophical atheism than there is practical atheism. There is a great difference between the two. Philosophical atheism is the realm of the thinker, the sophist, the scholar (or psuedo-scholar), perhaps even the scientist (though certainly not all of them); those whose intellectual pursuits leave them devoid of anything divine.

    The practical atheist, however, isn’t necessarily like these at all. His lack of interest in God has little to do with any struggle to understand or believe. The practical atheist doesn’t believe in God for the same reasons the thief doesn’t believe in law enforcement. He doesn’t want to believe. If you asked the thief if he thinks we ought to have law and order, he might answer, “Yes.” But, not for himself. He wants to live above the law, or beyond the law, because he thinks it’s to his advantage and because it allows him to do what otherwise he could not.

They are alienated from God because of their evil behavior.

    The practical atheist operates in much the same way. He doesn’t want to believe in God. He has involved himself in things with which God would interfere. It is not in his mind that he rejects the idea of God, it is in his behavior. As the Apostle Paul says, they are alienated from God because of their evil behavior. (Colossians 1:21)

    Someone might ask, “What’s this all about?” It’s about trying to get us to think about the statement of our lives. It’s about trying to get us to acknowledge the implications of our own behavior. The man or woman who claims to believe in God, yet whose life exhibits the opposite, is what I call a practical atheist. Philosophically, theologically, intellectually, this person may assert that God exists, that God is involved in our lives, and has spoken to us about all things important. That same person may then turn around and act as if God doesn’t exist. Behind that contradiction is always a little thing called sin.

    The psalmist, put this way: The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” And for him, there might as well be no God, for he is determined to act as if God never existed. You know the problem with all of this? Wish as we might, there is a God. What are you saying by the conduct of your life?