"I will trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever"

[Psalm 52]

"I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever."

Psychologist Larry Crabb said the following: “We long for relationships. And because we long for them, we get hurt.” It is human nature to desire relationships, but when we get hurt in those relationships, it is also our nature to avoid them. There are times when, because of our pain, the healthy longing for deep relationships fades away. In other words, because of the wounds we receive in relationships, we either stop pursuing intimate relationships altogether or hesitate in seeking them.

How is your heart during this Holy Week? Personally, as I begin this week of suffering, I feel a little distressed. The source of this distress in my heart is the imperfect love of human beings. In other words, my heart is heavy, painful, and troubled because of the inevitable failure of human love. However, for some reason, this weight, pain, and distress have led me to meditate on today’s scripture, which has made me trust even more in God's unfailing love, a love that never fails. I hold on to the verse from Psalm 63:3, which God gave me when my first baby, Juyoung, was born: “Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.” As I meditated on Psalm 52 while preparing for the sermon on Monday, I opened Juyoung's photo album and showed Yeun the pictures, once again reflecting on God's eternal mercy.

Today, in Psalm 52:8, David confesses and resolves: “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” Based on this verse, I want to meditate on what it means to live a life of faith that trusts in God’s unfailing mercy forever. I will reflect on this in three aspects and receive the grace God gives.

First, those who trust in God's unfailing love forever see and are filled with awe.

Look at the first half of Psalm 52:6: "The righteous will see and fear..." What is it that we are supposed to see, and whom should we fear? It means that we should see how God punishes sinners, and we should fear God. However, it seems that we lack this reverence and fear towards God. What is the reason for this? I believe it is because we fail to distinguish between the forgiveness of sin and the consequence of sin. In other words, we tend to believe that after we repent for our sins, we are forgiven, while at the same time thinking that because we’ve been forgiven, the consequences of our sins no longer exist. Pastor John Owen, in his book "Sin and Temptation", said: “... the idea that we can always be forgiven by grace, no matter how much we sin, is not correct.” We are abusing grace. To sin and not take sin seriously is not a correct posture of faith. We tend to trust more in God’s forgiveness of sin than in the reality that God punishes sin. As a result, we do not fear God, and we lack a fearful heart when committing sin.

I believe that the forgiveness of sin and the consequences of sin must be distinguished. I find an example of this in David. After David sinned against God, he confessed and repented of his sin after hearing the pardon from the prophet Nathan. As a result, he was forgiven. However, as a consequence of his sin, his first child with Bathsheba died, and David had to face terrible consequences within his household: incidents of rape, murder, coups, and so on. Another example can be found in the relationship between David and Shimei. When David fled from Absalom, Shimei cursed him and threw stones at him, and one of David’s generals went to kill Shimei, but David chose not to have him killed (2 Samuel 16:5-6, 9-10). Later, when Absalom died and David returned to Jerusalem, Shimei came to meet him, and David forgave him. However, before David died, he instructed his son Solomon not to regard Shimei as an innocent man (1 Kings 2:8-9). This makes me think that ultimately, the forgiveness of sin and its consequences are two separate matters.

In today’s passage from Psalm 52, the sinner mentioned is a man named Doeg. Who is this person? When David was fleeing from King Saul, he once received help from the priest Ahimelech. However, Doeg the Edomite saw this and reported it to King Saul. As a result, following the king’s command, Doeg boldly killed 85 priests (1 Samuel 22:9-18). Reflecting on the three sins of Doeg, we should learn the lesson of fearing God and avoiding committing the same sins as Doeg.

(1) The sin of Doeg was the sin of boasting about himself.

In other words, the sin of Doeg was pride. Look at the first verse of Psalm 52: "Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually." Even boasting of good with pride is evil, so how much more evil is it to boast of evil itself? (Park Yoon-Sun). This is truly a sharp reflection. The saying, "Even boasting of good with pride is evil," is a profound insight. But the wicked boast of their evil (their wicked plans), how terribly sinful is that? We must be cautious of the sin of self-boasting. We must distance ourselves from pride. And we must listen carefully to the words of Jeremiah 9:24: "But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord." We should boast about knowing God. Recognizing that God is the one who acts with kindness, justice, and righteousness, boasting about God means acknowledging that we ourselves fall short in doing the same. That is why the Apostle Paul says, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31). What is there to boast about in the Lord? Isn't it our foolishness and weakness? Why should we boast of our foolishness and weakness? The reason is: "so that no one may boast before God" (1 Corinthians 1:29).

(2) The sin of Doeg was the sin of the tongue.

Look at verses 2-4 of Psalm 52: "Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!" David compared the deceitful tongue of the sinner to "a sharp razor." What is a "razor"? Unlike other knives, it is extremely sharp, capable of cutting even the finest hair. This is what an evil tongue is like. It cuts the heart of the other person. The sinner uses their tongue to speak deceit and utter harmful words that wound others. We must be careful with our tongues. We must listen to and obey the words of James 3:9-10: "With it (the tongue) we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."

(3) The sin of Doeg was the sin of murder.

As the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 22:18, Doeg killed 85 priests. He killed the priests, the servants of God, recklessly. While we may not commit murder like Doeg, if we reflect on 1 John 3:15, we can see that by hating our brother, we might commit murder in our hearts countless times. When we commit such sins, we must remember that God will surely discipline us for our sins. We must abandon the delusion that, because we repent, we are automatically forgiven and will not face discipline. The person who trusts in God's unfailing love for ever must revere God.

Second, the person who trusts in God's unfailing love forever takes God as his strength.

(1) Look at Psalm 52:7 in the Bible:

"Look, this is the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."

The arrogant person, the one who loves evil more than good, is someone who relies on the abundance of their wealth rather than on God, and makes themselves strong while bringing harm to others. Why is this? Because they believe money is power. However, the person who lives relying on money as their strength is truly foolish and pitiable. The reason is that they will ultimately be ruined by their money. The one who chases after wealth will perish by wealth, but the one who follows God will live by God. In Psalm 73, the psalmist Asaph wrestles with the conflict of the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. He almost stumbled in his envy of the wicked's prosperity, but when he entered God's sanctuary, he saw their end — that they would quickly face ruin, destruction, and desolation — and confessed his foolishness and ignorance. We must understand this. Trusting in money is like leaning on a spider's web, relying on something weak and fragile (Job 8:14-15).

(2) We need to realize how powerless, helpless, and incapable we really are.

The real problem is not that we are weak, but that we often have too much power. This is why there are so many times when we rely on our own strength and speak and act according to our own will. We become centered on our own standards, thoughts, stubbornness, and assertions, and everything becomes too self-centered. Therefore, we need to experience moments of weakness, perhaps through adversity or suffering. Only then will we truly rely on God's strength. That is why the apostle Paul boasted in his own weakness, so that the power of Christ might rest upon him (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is in our weakness that God's power is perfected (v.9).

(3) God alone is our fortress and our strength.

The person who forever trusts in God's mercy will boast in knowing God, understanding that God is their strength, and will rely solely on Him. This is why David, in Psalm 18:1-2, confessed and sang: "I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." We must remember that trusting quietly in God, who is our "strength" and "fortress," is our true strength (Isaiah 30:15).

Finally, thirdly, the one who forever trusts in God's mercy gives eternal thanks to the Lord.

Look at Psalm 52:9 in the Bible:
"Because You have done it, I will give thanks to You forever; because Your name is good, I will praise You in the presence of Your saints."

Why does the psalmist David say he will thank the Lord forever? The reason is that "the Lord has done this" (v. 9). In other words, because the Lord punished the wicked, those who boasted in their evil and acted deceitfully with a sharp tongue like a razor, David gave thanks to God forever, before the saints of the Lord.

God is a just and holy God who punishes the wicked.
Whether it was Doeg or Saul, those who eventually tried to kill David were punished by God. Therefore, David said: "So God will destroy you forever; He will take you, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and uproot you from the land of the living" (Selah) (v. 5). David speaks of two ways in which God punishes the wicked:

1. "He will take you out of your dwelling place" means that even the place the wicked thought to be secure will be made insecure by God.

Here, the "dwelling place" that was considered safe could also refer to the "abundance of wealth" that the wicked relied on. However, when God punishes sinners, He will also remove their wealth, making it insecure. See Haggai 1:6: "You have sown much, but harvested little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes."

2. "He will uproot you from the land of the living" means that, as a result of their extreme wickedness, they will be completely destroyed (as explained by Park Yun-seon).

On the other hand, the righteous, or those who trust in God forever, will be "like a green olive tree in the house of God" (v. 8). Those who trust in God are like the strong and unshakable olive tree in God's house—like evergreen trees. Just as evergreen trees remain green throughout the cold winter, we, the believers, live tasting the unchanging goodness and mercy of God, and for this, we give thanks to God in His house.

Even in extreme suffering, we experience God's great mercy.
The greater and deeper the suffering, the more we experience God's love in a greater and deeper way. When we speak of extreme suffering, we cannot help but think of Jesus, who came in human form and died on the cross. When we think of the greatest suffering that Jesus, as a human, endured on the cross, we come to realize the perfect love of God revealed through His death. Why did God the Father, who was angry with Jesus, the humble and gentle sinless Son, punish Him? It was for our salvation. How did Jesus, who is the Power itself, become powerless, hanging on the cursed tree? It was to forgive all our sins. Ultimately, God the Father saved us by judging His Son Jesus on the cross. How, then, could we not praise and give thanks to God? We must thank and praise the Lord forever.

Desiring to rely on God's mercy forever,

Pastor James Kim

(Starting Holy Week with a heavy heart due to imperfect human love, but trusting even more in God's perfect and eternal love.)