Psalms 52 contracts the wicked with the righteous. First the wicked:
“Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, o worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right.”
(Psalms 52:2-3 ESV)
Then the righteous:
“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 thanks forever because You have done it. I will wait on
Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.”
(Psalms 52:8-9 ESV)
1 Samuel 21 gives us the historical background of Psalms 52. David is on the run from a very angry and wicked Saul. In the verse 9, we see righteous David claim Goliath’s sword.
“Then the priest said, ’The sword of Goliath the Philistine,
whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped
in a cloth behind the Ephod; if you would take it for
yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.’ And
David said ‘There is none like it. Give it to me.’”
(1 Samuel 21:9 ESV)
Then in Acts we have the Jerusalem Council meeting to discuss two questions: ‘do saved Gentiles need to be circumcised and ‘can Jews and Gentiles eat and socialize together? Peter answers.
“After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to
them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a
choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear
the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the
heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He
also did to us; And He made no distinction between us and
them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do
you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the
disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have
been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through
grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
(Acts 15:7-11 ESV)
James delivers the verdict.
“Therefore, it is my judgement that we do not trouble those
who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that
we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated
by idols and from what is strangled and from blood. For
Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who
preach Him, since He is read in the synagogues every
Sabbath.” (Acts 15:19-21 ESV)
Lord, help us to always notice the differences between what You would call wicked and what you would call righteous. Help us to not be legalistic like the Pharisees, instead remembering that we are all Your people, despite our backgrounds.
Kellie
Sixty-six books in a year 