The Futility of Evil

Welcome to Psalms of the Saviour: Devotions for His Sheep. I’m Joshua VanZandbeek, and today we will be exploring Psalm 52. I’m excited to share this with you, because I believe we will have a chance today to understand - no matter how much it looks like evil is winning in this world - God’s love will not be overcome.

I’d like to start by reading the psalm together:

Psalm 52 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.

If it seems like today that evil and turmoil abound in the world, you would be right. Right now there’s a war going on in Europe, a significant moral slide in both Europe and North America, growing unrest concerning China, and the knowledge that Covid may, or may not, become endemic. That’s just a few highlights in a sea of problems our world is riddled with. And if we focus on these things, we clearly see that this world has a lot of problems, and that Satan is working overtime against God.

However. God is not halted by these things, nor is He overcome. The enemy cannot overcome God’s steadfast love, and as Psalm 52 points out, those who put their trust in Him find health and life in the presence of Yahweh. Psalm 52 shows that it is those who choose to put their trust in evil, in themselves, and in Satan’s way are deceived. Following the path of unrighteousness never amounts to anything good.

David wrote Psalm 52 probably after Doeg the Edomite killed the priests of Nob. He committed a horrific sin, and was proud of it! David looks up and says “why are you proud of this??” Doing evil and boasting in it only leads to destruction. Working against God only leads to destruction. David knows this and calls out those who would follow that path.

Many today boast in their accomplishments, and their practices that are clearly against God’s way. They are proud of their sin. In today’s world, it seems like these people are everywhere. It may seem, perhaps, that the enemy does have the upper hand. Yet we know that Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and over Satan. Satan can try as hard as He likes to turn this world from God, but ultimately this path leads to destruction. So when we see evil in this world, we do not need to be afraid of it. We have no need to fear Russia, or the moral decay of the world, or perhaps other things that you can think of in this context. Instead, we make the confident assertion that God has won the battle, and that evil will be done away with. Psalm 52 points its reader to the righteous way, exposing the folly of the wicked, and showing how boasting in evil only leads to death, while following Yahweh’s way leads to life.

Do you respond to evil in this world with fear or confidence

Knowing God’s steadfast love, will you be merciful to sinners and warn them of the coming judgment?