Day 370: When the faithful vanish - Psalm 12
1 Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. 2-4 Everyone utters lies to his neighbour; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 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.” 6-7 The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation for ever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
I heard just recently that a man named John Blanchard had passed away. He had been a faithful servant of God who for well over 50 years had given wise and gracious answers to the objections raised by people against Jesus Christ and Christianity. And, sadly, less than a year ago another great Christian leader and author, J I Packer, also went to be with the Lord. It seems the writer of Psalm 12 expressed a similar sorrow in vs 1. What happens to society when it loses godly people who faithfully taught God's truth? (vs 2-4)
When the godly vanish the wicked strut about more boldly with flattering speech to cover their deceitful intentions. They boast of how they are 'winning the day'. On the same day I heard of John Blanchard going to be with His Lord and Saviour, I saw a report that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America had just become the first mainline Protestant denomination to elect a transgender bishop! As Christianity has seemingly dwindled in the West we've seen how things like abortion, exploitation, pornography and other perversions have flourished. Verse 8 sums up the situation well; when godliness vanishes in the land, vileness is exalted.
What was the Psalm writers hope as all this was taking place? (vs 5-7)
He believed that God would not be silent forever. The Holy Spirit leads the writer to express what God Himself says – how He will arise to defend those who were being preyed upon by the wicked who prowled about doing evil. What do verses 6-7 tell us about God's promises?
They are purer than gold. Psalm 18:30 says “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.” We must not lose heart as the years go by and godly men and women go to be with the Lord. God is well able to defend His own cause in the world. The wicked may have a season where they flourish and dominate the scene. But remember what God told Abraham when He gave the promise of settling his future descendants in the land where the Amorites lived. God said Abraham’s descendants would only be given the land in the fourth generation because “the Amorites’ wrongdoing won’t have reached its peak until then.” Genesis 15:16.
It seems that God allows wrongdoers to go about their business until they have no excuse for the judgement He brings down upon them. So the apostle Peter reminded Christians in his day: “Don't forget this, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord - and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come, as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.” (2 Peter 3:8-10). And in the light of that statement he says: “Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.” (vs 11-12)