Psalm 52

Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
² Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
³ You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
⁴ You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.

⁵ God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
⁶ The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
⁷ “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
⁹ I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

Lying rather than speaking righteousness

In this psalm, we have a true believer compared to a lying liar. He’s not someone who tells little white lies, or lies to spare someone’s feelings, or lies to protect something. We’ve all been there, I’m sure. This is a guy who tells lies to spread destruction. He is not lying about liking your cooking, he’s lying about God’s truth, and he is so skilled in his lies that he can easily convince other people to listen to him.

He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place

This man is sowing seeds of doubt and destruction. He’s like pigweed in a farm (if you didn't see the segment on Sunday Morning about weeds, and especially about pigweed taking over farms, it's below). He spreads thousands of lies that take root and grow into new plants and those plants spread the same lies. Eventually, they threaten to choke out the real crops, the truth. Farmer God has a really good weeding system, though. No herbicides, He just pulls them all out by the root so that they are gone forever.

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God

In contrast to that, we are supposed to be like an olive tree in the house of God. First of all, we are in the house of God, or perhaps the greenhouse of God. We’re protected from storms and frosts. We’re carefully tended, getting watered every day. And, when we need some pruning, God’s there to do that too. Secondly, we’re green. That means we’re growing, flourishing even, and producing fruit in our spirits. 

And finally, we’re olive trees. Olives are hugely significant in the Bible (and in other Mediterranean cultures). It was and is a symbol of peace. If the liar is spreading destruction through lies, we can spread peace through truth. The olive was also a giant part of their crop production. You’d think everyone in the Mediterranean was downing olive oil all the time. We’re not just some dinky crop like parsnips. We are the main staple in God’s garden.