"The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.' His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, 'I shall not be moved; throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity'... He says in his heart, 'God has forgotten; He has hidden His face, and He will never see it'... Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, 'You will not call me to account'?" (Psalm 10:3-6, 11, 13).
This is poetry, from an unknown poet, written hundreds of years earlier, but should call to mind a later prose text: "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who, by their unrighteousness, suppress [their awareness of] the truth... And, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they knew God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (Romans 1:18, 28-32). Also Romans 3:18, "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
What the two writers have in common is something that we often forget about the unbeliever: That he knows that the biblical god exists and holds us accountable for our wicked acts. The difference is that the believer repents of those actions, and flees to Christ for redemption and forgiveness. the unbeliever just shuts the awareness out of his mind, believing, though irrationally, that, if he merely suppresses his knowledge of God, then God will not observe his wickedness or call him to judgment.
However, denying the consequences in no way dispenses with them. "But You do see, for You note mischief and vexation, that You may take it into Your hands; to You the helpless commits himself; You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till You find none. The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; You will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more" (Psalm 10:14-18).
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