Today's Video Devotion

Thursday 10/26/23

Faith's Fixed Focus

📺️ Psalm 52 🔊

¹Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.

 ²The tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

 ³Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

 ⁴Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

 ⁵God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

 ⁶The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

 ⁷Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

 ⁸But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

 ⁹I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: David, Asaph, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, Moses, and the Sons of Korah

Date Penned: (1440-586 BC)

Overview: Poetry for the Expression of Praise and Worship to God (c 1-150)

Theme: The Second Book of Psalms (c 42-72)

Message: God will Judge the Evildoer (v 1-9)

Psalms 52 Commentary

(52:1) God's Word - This psalm was written about Doeg the Edomite, who had betrayed Ahimelech and David and then killed God's priests (see 1 Samuel 317; 22-0-23). Doeg thought he was a great warrior, even boasting about his deed. In reality, his deed was evil, an offense to God. It is easy to confuse "accomplishment" with goodness. Just because something is done well or thoroughly doesn't mean it is good (for example, someone may be a great gambler or a skillful liar). Measure all you do by the rule of God's Word, not by how proficiently you do it.

(52:8) Protection and Destruction - David is contrasting God's eternal protection of his faithful servants with the sudden destruction of the wicked 

(52:5-7) Flourishing in the House of God - With the Lord by his side, David compares himself to an olive tree, flourishing in the house of God. Not only does a flourishing olive tree live for hundreds of years, but it also produces both food for sustenance and olive oil for cooking, light, and dozens of other uses. It represents great productivity and usefulness. This should be our prayer for ourselves.

Each day, we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today, we continue in the Book of Psalms with Chapter 52. In our text today, we see a theme of how God will judge the evildoer. In making an application, we see that we must not let our anger block our confidence in God's ability to defeat evil. Faith in God allows us to look past our circumstances and those who want to do evil to us. We know God is just, and focusing on Him will allow us to walk in victory. How about you? Do you allow your anger or emotions to those who wrong you to allow you to lose focus on God's direction for your life? Let us learn from our Psalm and text today to remember to have faith and fix our focus on the Lord instead of allowing our emotions to lose our vision of following the Lord.