But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.  Psalm 52:8

What do you think of when you think of olives?  A cocktail snack?  A messy decorative tree?  Heart-healthy cooking with EVOO?

What did it mean to the writer of this psalm?  Why did he specify an olive tree?

Olive trees, were, of course, the source for olives.  In Biblical times, olives were definitely not merely a garnish.  Olives were pressed for oil, and it wasn’t just used for cooking.  Let’s take a look at what olive oil meant to the people of biblical times.

Olive oil was essential for everyday life.  It was a primary ingredient in cooking.  Used as fuel for lamps, it brought light to darkness.  It could be used in binding up wounds.  (Luke 10:34)  It was also used for anointing, to signify kingship, priesthood, or other consecration (I Samuel 10:1) and frequently symbolized joy.  You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.  (Psalm 45:7)

Not only was it used in homes, it was part of their worship of God.  The doors to the inner sanctuary were made of olive wood.  (I Kings 6:23)

Olive oil fueled the lamps in the temple.  Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.  … before the Lord from evening till morning, continually…  (Leviticus 24:2-3)

It was also part of the offerings presented in the temple.  With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.  (Exodus 29:40)

It played a role in the promise of God.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land – a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig-trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.  (Deut 8:7-8)

In his prophecy of a restored and redeemed Israel, Hosea promises …his splendor will be like an olive tree…  (Hosea 14:6)

Does this give you a richer understanding of what it would mean to be a flourishing olive tree?  This encompasses food, light, healing, joy, worship, a relationship with God.

When do I feel like I am flourishing?  When my husband and I are communicating well, jobs are satisfying, the bank account is full, the kids are happy and excelling in school, the house is clean?

How about when life doesn’t look like God is fulfilling His promises?  How about when someone is trying to kill me out of irrational vengeance?  How about when I have fled the killer and as a result of helping me do so, other innocent people have been slaughtered?  Oh, and when all of those are true at the same time?

Well, I’ve never been in that situation.  But David was.  I Samuel (Chapters 16-22) tells us about it.  As a young boy, David was anointed as the future king by the prophet Samuel.  As a youth, he started his military career by slaying Goliath, then he worked for King Saul, who became insanely jealous of his success and tried to kill him.  David had to flee for his life into the wilderness.  The priest who gave him provisions for his journey was later slaughtered as a result, along with hundreds of innocent men, women, and children.

It is at this point that David writes Psalm 52.

I read this Psalm recently and was deeply touched at these words of David.  I wrote in my journal, “Lord, I praise you that David could say, ‘I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God’ when he was fleeing for his life, betrayed, in the wilderness.  His “roots” were deep in you; he was not tossed by his circumstances.  I pray for that same confidence and rootedness myself.”

That image of the olive tree flourishing in spite of circumstances stayed with me all week.  There were a number of times that week that my well-being felt shaken, but I remembered and set my mind on this verse.

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God.  I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. 

I chose to turn to God’s truth that I can be an olive tree flourishing in the house of the Lord even when my circumstances were not “ideal.”  As a result, I was able to find the strength persevere, not lose control, to bless those around me.

It helped me to think about what it means that the tree is “in the house of God.”  In David’s time, Israel worshipped God in His tabernacle, a tent, the house of God.  David’s son Solomon would build a temple for the Lord that would replace the tabernacle.  The tabernacle, and later the temple, was the place of worship, of sacrifice, of relationship with God.  (I Chronicles 6:31-32)  Now, because of Jesus, I am that temple.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  (I Corinthians 3:16)  No matter where I am in the world, or what my circumstances are, I can be in relationship with God.  In trusting Him, I will flourish.  I will praise Him.

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God. 

I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever.

I will praise you forever for what you have done;

in your name I will hope, for your name is good. 

I will praise you in the presence of the saints.

Psalm 52:8-9