"I Am Like a Green Olive Tree"
I haven’t posted here for a few weeks, not since we concluded the Gospel of John and I had my last Sunday at Munger on June 5. I’ve missed writing my daily Bible post, and also been grateful for the break! Even James Brown needed some time off every now and then.
The Plan Going Forward
My first Sunday at Asbury will be August 7, but I’m not going to start preaching through a book of the Bible until August 21, when we will begin Genesis! (I’m going to take my first 2 Sundays to introduce myself and help the Asbury folks get to know what I’m about.) I’ll be preaching through Genesis all fall, concluding the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to this.
Just as I’ve done the last several years at Munger, there will be a daily reading plan through the entire book I’m preaching through. The Genesis reading plan will begin Monday, August 22, and will continue every weekday, right up until Thanksgiving.
I’ll be sending out my brief daily commentary starting that Monday, 8/22. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
The Plan This Summer
I’m not going to be writing daily commentary this summer, but I am continuing my own personal practice of reading one psalm a day, every day. I started this practice on Easter Monday, 2020, and am now in my fourth time through the psalms. When I get to Psalm 150, I’ll start over again. There’s something about the simplicity of this schedule that really appeals to me.
Today is Psalm 52 (more on this psalm, below); and if you’re not following another reading plan, I’d love to have you join me until Genesis begins. Tomorrow is Psalm 53, Thursday is Psalm 54, etc.
For those of you interested, my friend Fred created a document laying out the entire schedule of this cycle. As a workaround, I actually use a daily count-up app on my phone that I restart every time I reach Psalm 150. Every morning at 4:30, this is what I see (this was from Saturday):
So, it’s one psalm a day, every day (including Sundays). Wanna join me?
(I actually keep this going even when I’m doing another reading plan, like the Genesis one this fall—I just love the routine of it.)
With all that being said, here are some brief thoughts on today’s psalm.
Today’s Psalm
Psalm 52
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2 Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Whoever compiled and edited the Psalms together gives us a helpful superscription on Psalm 52, namely that this psalm was inspired by a treachery David experienced. (You can read the story in 1 Samuel 21-22.) But this psalm is not so much about one specific instance of backstabbing treachery, but about the general human experience of it.
The psalmist addresses his bragging enemy:
“Your tongue plots destruction”
but, though he has been harmed by his enemy’s actions, the psalm doesn’t end with curse and complaint. Instead, he reminds himself that bad guys won’t ultimately win:
“But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.”
And then the psalmist forces himself to remember that, despite the treachery he has received at the hand of man, the Lord has been faithful to bless him:
“But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.”
I just love that image.
“I am like a green olive tree.”
The bad guys aren’t going to get away with it forever. Let the Lord worry about them. Today, let’s us remember all the Lord’s blessings to us.
And today, may you be like a green olive tree in the house of your God.