Psalm 52:8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.… The olive-tree loves fat soil. It attains to finest fruitfulness when its bed is rich in nutriment. Starve its soil, the tree remains dwarfed and impoverished. A recent traveller, describing the olive-yards of Palestine, says that the soil in which the finest olives grow is "rich as a bride-cake." Now I think it is to this characteristic of a splendid olive-tree that the psalmist refers. He himself is like an olive-tree in the richness of his rootage. God is the soil of his life, and he exults in the wealth of his resources. Here is the possibility of every man: he may become rooted in God. But how little use we make of our resources! A little while ago I got a load of soil for the purposes of a small kitchen-garden, and the man who keeps my garden in order saw the soil and exclaimed, "That's a splendid bit of earth, it's fit for potting work; you can get far more out of that than vegetables." The phrase at once acquired spiritual suggestiveness. I thought how little I was getting out of God, and how much He wishes me to have. He wants us to be like olive-trees that are rooted in almost inexhaustible resources. It is the apostolic figure; the Apostle Paul speaks of being "rooted in Him." This, I think, is the first suggestion of the psalmist's thought; he is like an olive-tree in the wealth of his resources. But he is also like the olive-tree in the vigour of his life. Currents of strength rise out of his resourceful rootage and endow them with spiritual vim and vitality. It is the purpose of our God that every one of our powers should move with firmness and decision. It is His will that there should be nothing weak about our moral and spiritual equipment. He wants everything not only to be beautiful, but to be strong. When we are "rooted" in Him every branch of the life is pervaded by rivers of sap, and every faculty is urged by Divine energy into manifold fruitfulness. The spiritual sap makes everything it pervades fruit for the King. When we are rooted in God everything is sappy. It may be a letter we are writing. It may be a wish we are expressing. It may be a bit of work we are doing. It may be our ordinary occupation, the drudgery of daily life. If we are rooted in God all the issues of the life are sappy with His Spirit, and we become like green olive-trees. Now let us look at the character in a little more detail. "I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." What a strong and exquisite word is this word translated "mercy." One element of its wealthy content is the suggestion of kindness, but it means more than this: Let me put it in this way: the word is descriptive in the first place of the attitude of bowing and coming quite near to the person, an immediate approach to a need. It is the act of the Good Samaritan stooping to the wounded, and pouring in oil and wine. It is pity in action, pity at work. But there is a second element in the word which greatly corroborates the first. Mercy is not only kindness, it is loyalty also. It is love that never says die. It remains full, flowing all through the changing seasons, even in the drought of a fierce indifference. It is the "leal love " of the Master Himself. "Having loved His own lie loved them unto the end." This is the mercy of God, and in this mercy the psalmist declares he trusts for ever. Trusts! And there again is a significant word. It means to his for refuge, to take up your home in a thing, to settle down. It is a comfortable nestling in the "leal love" of the Lord. It is to be so sure of Him that worry and fretfulness pass away, and we are like little children, almost careless in our sense of gracious security. "I will give thee thanks for ever." Here is another characteristic of the life that is like an olive-tree; it is a praiseful, thankful life. There is a sentence in one of Jane Austen's novels which I think is very expressive. Describing one of her characters, she says, "He was a very liberal thanker." I think that is very finely descriptive of a rich and welcome character. To be "liberal thankers" heavenward, as well as toward our fellows, is to receive continual spiritual enlargement. Gratitude makes room for more grace. And surely we have abundant opportunity for gratitude! We only need to open our eyes to have our praise awakened at every turn. Every time we express our thanks we make more room for God. I do not wonder, then, that this man, who was rooted in God like an olive-tree, should find himself instinctively and unceasingly bearing the fruit of gratitude and praise. "And I will wait on Thy name, for it is good, in the presence of Thy saints." What will he wait on? The Lord's name! And what names the Lord has given Himself, and every name a promise and a pledger He never goes back upon His name. Every name is honoured to the last extremity of its significance. And we can put in richer names than ever the psalmist could. We can insert the name "Saviour," "Comforter," "Counsellor," "Friend." On this name the psalmist says he will "wait." That does not mean that he will sit down and indolently tarry until something turns up. It literally means that he will hind himself around the name of God, that he will decline every other support, that he will be wrapped around the covenant of the Lord's own name. The man who does this will have reason for singing every day. He will find that the support holds, and day by day his experience of security will teach his lips a new song. And he says that he will do this waiting "in the presence of Thy saints." That is to say, he will mingle with other people who are doing the same, he will make a profession of his willing confidence in God, and he will listen to similar professions made by others. In their mutual confidences they will give one another mutual support. Ah! yes, this kind of communion is always "good." It nourishes the life like bread, it refreshes the life like water. "Thou satisfiest my mouth with good things." (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. |
    |