Psalm 52
February 24
There is bad and then
there is outright evil. Imagine a political leader, the head of a sovereign
nation, ordering the execution of religious leaders simply because they gave his
enemy some food. That’s what King Saul had done to 85 priests who had helped Saul’s
enemy, David. Additionally, the entire city of priests was also destroyed,
priests as well as the women and children.
People often
complain about their government or the bad things that happen to them, but
there is true evil in our world, desperately wicked people. How does one get to
be that evil?
A poor shepherd
by the name of Doeg saw the priests give David food and simply went and
reported it to King Saul. When Saul became enraged by those who helped his
enemy, he ordered the priests to be killed but no one would do it…except Doeg. He
thought this was his chance to strike it rich. He was from another country so
it didn’t matter to him if he killed some Israelites, even an entire city. According to Ps. 52:7, Doeg went from his bad poverty and quickly turned to outright evil.
David felt the
blow personally; after all, it was because of him that the evil had fallen on
the priests. Rather than guilt or bitterness, David turned to God and to
praising God. Rather than trusting in riches and power and revenge, David said,
“I will trust in the mercy of God forever and ever…I will wait on your name,
for it is good.”
There is bad and
there is outright evil. But there is good and outright mercy of God forever.
Whatever you are going through, deepen your roots like an olive tree in the
house of God. You won’t be uprooted.
