Thoughts on a psalm

Have you ever done that thing where you try and think of somewhere in the Bible to read? You know, hoping that some passage will come to you and you will be inspired. I tried it just now and came up with the number 12. Psalm 12 for me then.

Well, I don't know if you have read it (I imagine that you are a lot more holy than I am and you have read them all) but it's certainly a good old fashioned psalm.

Here are the words

For the director of music. According to sheminith.^[b] A psalm of David.

 ¹ Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore;
   those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
² Everyone lies to their neighbor;
   they flatter with their lips
   but harbor deception in their hearts.

 ³ May the LORD silence all flattering lips
   and every boastful tongue—
⁴ those who say,
   “By our tongues we will prevail;
   our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

 ⁵ “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
   I will now arise,” says the LORD.
   “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
⁶ And the words of the LORD are flawless,
   like silver purified in a crucible,
   like gold^[c] refined seven times.

 ⁷ You, LORD, will keep the needy safe
   and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
   when what is vile is honored by the human race.

At first I was a little worried that I would not have a clue what to think about this but upon reflection it is an interesting and indeed helpful psalm. Lately I have been noting the number of times that people in the Bible say 'I am the only holy one left lord' and thats simply not the case. Take Elijah when he runs from Jezebel. He moans to God (twice!) about him being the only one left and God gently tells him that he will see off God's enemies but ends with the warning not to touch the other seven thousand who did not desert Him. So I wonder if in this psalm the righteous have truly left or if this is a case of David whining again about how unfair the world is. In our world, yes there are a lot of unfaithful people but we need to remember that there are some who are faithful to us and to God. We also need to remember that when someone is unfaithful to us, we have the ultimate source of faithfulness right there with us. 

What I really liked about this psalm was where God promised to rise up and defend the poor and the cheated and as David says, what God says is 'flawless'. I am not sure of the veracity of this (as it did come from a Dan Brown novel) but when artists used to make a sculpture they would fill any flaws and dents in with wax. Anything that was flawless was 'without wax' or in latin sine cera. God's word here is flawless, without wax and therefore sincere. We can trust God because He says we can. His word is flawless and we need to remember that.

The message of psalm 12 for me is twofold, there are unfaithful people in the world (but God will sort them out) and God will deal with the poor and the plundered. I wonder how He will do it. Perhaps He will ask me to do some of it.

Prayer

Father,

Thank you for your flawless Word

Thank you that you know my innermost groans

Guide me in your path

That I may do you will 

And help the poor and the plundered.

Amen