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\u201cWhy do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God\u2019s unfailing love for ever and ever (Psalm 52:1,5,8).

David is hiding from King Saul and his murderous paranoia. When the priest Ahimelech gives David refuge, Doeg tattles on him. Having volunteered to kill the priest, Doeg kills Ahimelech and 83 of his clan. When he\u2019s done, he feels pretty macho: a warrior to be reckoned with. This prompts David's sarcastic line, "Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?" (Psalm 52:1).

The Bible traces this "Big Lie" from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the Lake of Fire in Revelation.

The "Big Lie" can be understood in various ways. It is the lie that we have created ourselves; that we are gods; that we command our own destiny; that we are self sufficient and autonomous; that the meaning of life is pleasure, self fulfilment, or independence.

When we live out the "Big Lie" we deceive and manipulate people for our own ends. We make ourselves the centre of our universe. We live out one question: "What's in it for me?" Cut off from God's goodness, we become evil in our intentions, feeding on our own selfishness.

God comes to shatter the "Big Lie" that started in the Garden. When Adam and Eve fell, they did not become like gods, as Satan promised. Instead, they simply found themselves naked and jumped into the bushes. There, God confronted them, showed them their sin, executed His judgment, throwing them out of the Garden to wander across the earth.

We are still tempted, however, to live without God, but He doesn't leave us alone. He comes with warning and then judgment to show us our choices. We have only two: live with Him in the truth or live without Him in the "Big Lie." This Psalm addresses these choices.

The psalm exposes the stupidity of the "mighty person" who trusts in herself or in his money, choosing evil rather than God's goodness. Such a person loves lying and has a "deceitful tongue" to cover up their evil.

God will bring such people to ruin. The righteous will be in awe and laugh at such stupidity. The psalmist will be among them in God's house, worshipping and waiting on the Lord. Rather than finding life's meaning in himself, he finds it in the mercy of God and the goodness of His name.

But doesn\u2019t a little of Doeg live in all of us? Jesus has the cure for doegishness: \u201cAbide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing\u201d (John 15:4-5).