Peace Amidst The End of the Wicked

Psalms 52:1-9

To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him, "David has gone to the house of Ahimelech."

1 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.

Here is the peace of the godly amidst the end of the wicked all around them.  Recalling Doeg the Edomite who went and told Saul where king David was hiding so that he could be found and killed (1 Samuel 22:9), the psalmist tells of that one’s just due from God for opposing His anointed and chosen one.   He first asks why the wicked one trusts his own strength and boasts in those evil thoughts and deeds when God is forever good.  In other words, why does the evil one not be good like God, the One who is truly mighty?  Instead, the wicked speak of plots to kill and deceive, loving to lie and pursue unrighteousness.  Stop and think about that as He psalmist did while singing this ode to the wicked and his end.  The tongue of the evil only speak deceit to cause ruin as they swallow up the good character of the righteous.  But in the end, God will surely forever destroy those who do these things, taking them off the earth to their just and eternal punishment, swiftly and decidedly pulled up like a weed out of the fertile ground meant for good growth (Proverbs 2:22, Mark 4:20).  Meditate on God’s righteousness and justice.  Finally, the righteous find peace as they fear the consequences of disobedience but rest in God’s goodness to them.  They will have the last laugh over those rejecting God and His word, those who trusted in their own feeble strength instead of God’s, those who trust in wealth and wickedness as if crowns of achievement in life instead of chains of regret in death.  The righteous who seek God alone find peace and inner prosperity of soul as they trust in God’s mercy and grace for eternity.  Because of this, the righteous (who looked forward to the Messiah then and trust in Christ now) offer praise and thanksgiving to the Lord God for His work in setting things right in the end (Revelation 6:10).  Together we who are in the righteousness of God wait on Him because He is good all the time, and anticipate what is to come while facing opposition and persecution now (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).  We have true peace amidst the wicked because we know their end and ours.  Amen!