But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire.” But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
Psalm 52:5-9 (NAS)
Perhaps right now, you feel broken. Maybe you feel like circumstances in your life couldn’t get much worse. Maybe people have disappointed you, lied and mistreated you. Maybe you feel as if you have no one to turn to. But if you aren’t broken right now, maybe you should be!
Two main interpretations of Psalm 52 have been put forth. One is a historical view, which says that David was literally referring to the passages in 1 Samuel, where Saul was out to kill David and where Doeg had David’s cohort, Ahimelech, killed along with 85 other people. Saul also ordered the town of Nod destroyed, which David had passed through and which contained the tabernacle. Others have said the Psalm is simpy an account of the eventual fate of all evil men in the face of an almighty and holy God. A third interpretation could be posited: the chapter also tells us that God may eventually bring us to a place where we are so desperate for Him, so desperate for something greater and holier than ourselves, that we become broken to the point of despair: a point where we hit rock bottom.
All but the final two sentences of this Psalm are about that type of person. It’s about the type of person that continually leads a life as if there is no need for God at all. For that person, sometimes God does choose to “break” them down to the point that their safety net to happiness — their money, their possessions, their family and friends — are stripped away. Eventually, they get to the point where they want to and must believe in something other than themselves. They get to a point of small faith in Him and finally, like Peter, step out of the boat. Yet, they fall in the water and then realize they must continually count on Christ to sustain them and keep them from drowning.
By verse 8, we see that David has already reached that point of total faith in God, by trusting in the “lovingkindness of God forever and ever.” One commentator had this to say about Romans 9-11, which presents a picture of the significance of the olive tree:
Paul shows us that the olive tree represents the covenants and promises to Israel, growing from its holy Root, which is the Messiah, the Word of God. The natural branches are the people of Israel. Those who turned away from that relationship were broken off. Christians are simply the wild branches grafted in among the natural branches to “become a partaker with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree,” which God established.
Indeed, Paul in Romans 11, like David in the 52nd Psalm, acknowledged:
Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree.
Verses 22-23
Sometimes, we need God to break us down in order for us to be willing to be grafted back into the tree again. Perhaps this what is happening in the life of our church. God is forging something new. Siphoning the unusable elements, and paving a way for a future that he envisions for us. Perhaps this is what’s happening in your life. God is exhorting you to hold on, to cling tight to His word and put your ultimate trust in Him. God wants you to plant deep roots in His church and in Him.
prayer
Today, pray for God to break you, if necessary, in order to bring you closer to Him and closer to his will, for it’s more important for you to be closer to his will, than at the center of yours. Thank him for all he’s given to you and ask him to help you trust in his loving kindness each day.