Like An Olive Tree in the House of God

Psalm 52:7  "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"
Psalm 52:8  But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.

How is someone like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God?  To best understand this let us take it in the context of the preceding verse.

"Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"

This man did not make God his stronghold.  A stronghold is “A strongly fortified defensive structure”.  A place of refuge, or protection.  Man, in general, depends on other things except God.  He trusts in his great wealth.  His acquiring wealth, His hoarding wealth, is what makes him feel protected, safe.  This is why man, in general, lives to make money, to have money.  His security, his identity, is all connected to money.

Because of this, he thinks only of himself.  “…and grew strong by destroying others!” True, isn’t it.  When someone is in the way of our making money, we destroy them, we get them out of the way.  This is the root of what we call “crab mentality”, pulling down others while we’re on the way up.

David, on the other hand, said that he was like an olive tree.  “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever”.

1. First, look where the olive tree is – in the house of God.  The olive tree was not planted outside the house of God, but inside.  The presence of God was David’s stronghold.  It was in God that he felt protected, secure, from all his enemies.

Is this also where we feel secure, safe – in the presence of God?  We live in a world of evil, chaos, selfishness…a place where we cannot find safety and security.  We, like David, like an olive tree in the house of God, are to feel secure and safe in our stronghold – the presence of God.

2.  The olive tree is flourishing in the house of God.  It is not flourishing in the world.  The man of the world flourishes in his wealth, and flaunts it to all.  The olive tree flourishes not in the world, but in the house of God.

Our Lord taught a similar lesson when He said “do not lay up treasures on earth…but lay up treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20).  What do we consider our treasure?  Where are we flourishing – in the world, or in the kingdom of God?  What is it that our lives flaunt before others?

3.  The olive tree was in the house of God to give.  So unlike the man who trusts in wealth and thinks only of amassing and destroying, the olive tree in the house of God exists only to give to the Lord.  It’s fruit was for the Lord.

Olive oil was essential in the house of God.  It was used for the light of the lamps, for anointing and for incense.  The fruit of the olive tree in the house of God was all for God, all for His use, all for His glory.

Are we like that olive tree, using the fruit that we flourish with for His glory, for His work, for His pleasure?  Or are we like the men of the world who think only of amassing wealth and using it for our own pleasure and enjoyment?

4.  The olive tree trusted in the Lord.  An olive tree outside the house of God was dependent on man to tend it, care for it, and take it’s oil.  An olive tree in the house of God is dependent only in the Lord. It gives knowing that the Lord will tend it, care for it and use it’s oil for His glory.

There are many who are afraid to devote their time and strength to the Lord, anxious of how they may provide for themselves or their family.  But, like David, who gave himself to God and trusted in the Lord, we, too, are to give our all to the Lord believing that He will take care of us.

Can we declare, like David, that we are like an olive tree in the house of God?  Do we bask in the Lord’s presence, living in His kingdom, daily?  Do we flourish with the things of God, or with the things of this world?  Do we exist to give, give to the Lord, allowing Him to use the fruit of our lives for His glory?  Do we trust that, as we live for Him, He will take care of us?