Every church, every Christian has at least one problem person. The details change, but the difficulty is always present in one form or another. It is discouraging, and discouragement may be Satan’s most effective tool. Not only is it discouraging, it is also tempting. We want to “fight fire with fire” and there is incredible danger in that. The psalms teach us how to deal with these discouraging situations.
Comfort
There is comfort in this psalm. We have our problems, but these problems are nothing new. Problems do not indicate that the Lord is indifferent to us. David had Saul and he had Doeg (1 Sam 21 & 22). Paul had Alexander and he had Demas (2 Tim 4:10, 14). John had Diotrephes (2 John 9f).
Why does God allow this?
Perhaps the Lord wants us to understand what it is to receive the kiss of Judas. Maybe that is why he allows there to be people who behave as described here.
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. (1-3)
When someone who ought to be helping is instead harming our efforts to honour God, it is comforting to know that it has often been this way.
Warning – There is also a warning in this psalm.
Three things can be said about the nature of the sinner described in the psalm. He is proud (a boaster, 1). He actually loves evil and hates those who do good (3). The enemy described here actually loves harmful devouring speech (4). Yes, some are that wicked. Notice in 1 Samuel 22 that Doeg, a deceitful speaker, killed Ahimilech, who had told the truth.
Just because we hate to be treated a certain way is no guarantee that we will not be tempted to treat others in this manner. The biggest complainers regarding gossip are sometimes among the worst offenders. Even those who are not habitually like this must guard against falling into such behaviour on occasion. Even the godly can be corrupted into such deceitful and damaging words.
The deceitful are often successful in this life, especially if they are rich, but it is all deceptive. The success of the deceitful is deceitful.
You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. 5But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. 6The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 7“See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” (4-7)
Thanksgiving – There is thanksgiving in this psalm.
We may suffer at the hands of the dishonest, as David did, as Paul did, as John did, as our Lord did, but that will never rob the faithful of the ultimate reward.
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. 9I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.
We are planted like a green olive tree. Our trust is not in our own skill at warding off the blows of the dishonest but in the steadfast love of the Lord (8; cf Ps 1:3; 92:12-15).
Therefore, the Lord should be thanked, and he should be relied upon in the future. This is not to suggest that we should do nothing about the dishonest. That would be mere laziness. David did what he could to stop the dishonest and to punish them. So did Paul (2 Tim 4:10, 14) and John (2 John 9-10). But we can never escape or defeat these people completely. We must rely on the Lord to work it all out.
Relying on the Lord is the way to deal with sinners. We should do what we can to correct them, but we will always end up relying on God, because we will never get them completely straightened out.
It makes sense that we should have to deal with other sinners that way, since it is the way we must deal with ourselves.