1Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4those who say, 'With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own—who is our master?'
5'Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,' says the Lord;
'I will place them in the safety for which they long.'
6The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7You, O Lord, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation for ever.
8On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.
Is it okay to admit defeat? Do we, as a culture have a hard time knowing when to let go? I think the answer is yes. For when we admit defeat, or acknowledge that the cards are stacked against us, we realize that we are powerless. Let's face it, that's not a great feeling. No one wants to think that his/her own power is taken out of the equation. It's a defeated feeling and one that we are not quick to give power to.
However, when those times come, where do we place our trust? The phrase, "She speaks with a silver tongue" means that the talk is sweet, convincing, and charming. Perhaps, however, it is simply flattery as in the Psalm. To speak in that manner, as the psalm says, is to speak with a double heart. Yet even the silver tongues will be refined.
Pay attention to verse 6. "The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." The idea of purifying is one that we will focus on again in more depth in other psalms, but know this for now: when purifying something such as metal, it undergoes such a drastic change that the very substance and molecular compounds are rearranged into something almost unrecognizable from what it was originally. It may take time, and the change may be painful, but God will purify us all, even the one with the silver tongue. As you pray this Psalm, ask God what you need to be purified from.
Pray Psalm 12.
G. Thomas Martin
