“I 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” (Psa 52:9). Read Psalm 52:1—9.

As we live in a world where lies and falsehood have a tight grip on its affairs, the Lord makes his people survive and thrive despite the moral pollution surrounding them. This psalm explains how the Lord handles the world that has sold out to lies.

In the first part of this psalm (52:1—4), the psalmist describes the people who lie to control society in their evil ways. “Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue” (Psa 52:2—4).

Companies exaggerate their balance sheets to exaggerate stock prices to cheat investors. Businesses make extraordinary claims about their products, governments lie about their achievements, friends mislead, and spouses cheat; the list could go on. The lies have polluted all systems of human existence.

The second part of the psalm affirms the psalmist’s faith that lie cannot have a permanent hold on the righteous because the Lord will shatter all strongholds of falsehood.

“But 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. The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, ‘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!’” (Psa 52:5—7).

Revelations about fraud, reports, and business closures are happening daily, proving that no lie is eternal and the hand of the Lord of truth against falsehood. The godly should gather wisdom from these exposures so they may not become another victim of a lie—“The righteous shall see and fear.”

In contrast to the perpetrators of falsehood and those who become their victims, the godly person flourishes like an olive shoot.

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I 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” (Psa 52:8—9).

A person who lost a huge amount of money confessed that his greed and lack of discernment made him a victim of that fraud. Living in a world of lies, it is important to trust the wisdom of the Lord; in him, no deceit is found. The boundary line between lie and truth is blurred in our world, but eyes enlightened with heavenly wisdom can spot the difference and escape the trap.