I am like an olive tree

A Guest post by my friend Juliette:

Psalm 52 [NLT]

1 Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior? Don’t you realize God’s justice continues forever?  2 All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you’re an expert at telling lies.  3 You love evil more than good and lies more than truth.

Interlude

4 You love to destroy others with your words, you liar!  5 But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living.

Interlude

6 The righteous will see it and be amazed. They will laugh and say,  7 “Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God. They trust their wealth instead and grow more and more bold in their wickedness.”

8 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.

9 I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people.  [Emphasis added.]

Isn’t this a great passage?? Verse 8 is like a nifty two-liner God gave me today to memorize that directly answers the enemy when he talks nonsense to me.

Enemy: What a failure and dork you are. You’ve made such dumb choices in life and look at how things are now. Even your best efforts are foolish. You have always messed everything up.

Me: “But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love”.

Enemy: You are never going to make it. A single mom with 4 kiddos!? What in the world? Your whole future is wrecked. Give up and be soul-crippled.

Me: “But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love”.

Enemy: You are alone. You are poor. You are annoying, You are broken. You are inept. You are incapable. You are invalid. You are insignificant. You are purposeless. You are spent. You are old, You are unlovely. You are empty. You are sad. You are a loser. You do not belong.

Me: Well, Actually….” I am like an olive tree, THRIVING in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s UNFAILING LOVE”.

Also, I loved all the “kinds” of love that were noted in varying translations. There was unfailing love, steadfast love, lovingkindness, mercy of God, faithful love, gracious love, and my favorite: loyal love.

[September 17, 2025: Editors’ notes:

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