Psalm 12
June 30, 2024 For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.
Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Apparently, Father, using flattery and deceit and outright lying as a mode of oppression is not new. We may be inclined to hear the words of this song and think they were written specifically about the present day, but they were not. What David sees around him in faithless and ungodly people is universal, it is the way of the world through the work of the Deceiver, the prince of this world. Lying with impunity is his nature. Flattering us with what we want to hear is his way. With a bold arrogance he says “who is master over [me]?” And by an awful inheritance this nature is our nature, and has been from the beginning.
Father, first we ask that you will guard us from being counted among the ungodly and the faithless, those who oppress with “flattering lips and a double heart.” May we remember that you, Lord, are our master. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price. In love you redeemed us from the way of the Deceiver. Because of love we want to obey you, and in doing so we set aside the way of the wicked. We know the way of godliness is actually a means of great gain. We give our allegiance to you. And we also know that we are vulnerable to those who would oppress by means of lying lips and a deceitful heart. We trust you will guard us from the hand of the oppressor. We trust you for your words are pure words. They are like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times, and as you have proven over and over through all generations, you, O Lord, will keep your word.
Father, while the truth of this song brings encouragement we are still faced with the reality that “On every side the wicked prowl as vileness is exalted among the children of man.” We remain vulnerable to oppression. One of the great mysteries that confront your people surrounds the question “when?” You say, “I will now arise. . . . I will place [the poor and needy] in the safety for which [they long],” when, in fact, “the poor are plundered. . . and the needy groan,” While we along with the authors of the Psalms ask “when,” and “How long, O Lord,” may we not ask without faith. Refine our understanding of what it means to be “guarded” by you, what “safety” looks like when the Deceiver is still allowed to prowl this world.
So we say to you, Father, if not a bit in the blind, we trust in your promises with the faith you give us, that you will guard us from the hand of the wicked forever.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray,
Amen