Psalm 52
Wickedness always hates righteousness. That's why those who carry in their souls the great burden of their own rebellion against God hate those who have experienced forgiveness. Guilt always does that - it produces hatred toward innocence, a desire to be rid of those whose very existence make the guilt worse by contrast.
The morning worship song before us recognizes that common problem, the problem of hatred that places the justified, righteous man in danger from the unrighteous. It's a song of assurance for the saints of God who have to live in a sinfully hostile world.
It begins with God's indictment against the rebellious. He says to them, "Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue!"
The problem is that the "rebellious" are failures! They can't win, because God's goodness to the righteous stands like a mighty mountain, unmoved by all their hostility. It continues even in the midst of their persecution of the godly, even when in their hatred they attempt to "devour" them. They can't win, and, on top of that, they're personally doomed forever!
Unless there's repentance, there's just one sure end for it all. The song expresses that terrible end when it says, "He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and uproot you from the land of the living!" Oh the self-deceived souls of fallen men! What an awful and certain doom they face!
The worshippers of the Lord, on the other hand, sing, "The righteous also shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 'Here is the man who did not make God his strength!" As they look about them and observe the unrepentant those who are redeemed by the Lord will experience awe and reverential fear when they behold the justice of God upon these persistent sinners. After all, they themselves could have experienced that same justice. But they'll also "laugh" at their persecutors because they'll finally be safe from them, finally be freed from the terrors of this fallen world!
The redeemed can look forward to that final end and sing, "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God - I will praise You forever, because You have done it, and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your Name, for it is good." God's people can absolutely trust Him for a definite and final victory over the evil of this world!
How about you? Do some people taunt you? Are there even some who hate you and try, sometimes very hard, to drag you down to their level, or, failing that, to get rid of you? Don't give in. God's goodness hasn't ceased. A blessedly perfect end is still before you!