Verses 1-8, “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things, Who have said, 'With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is Lord over us?' 'For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,' says the Lord; 'I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.' The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever. The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.”
The closer we get to God in our walks, the more we can feel alone among the men of this world. That is because the path that leads to eternal life is a tough road. Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” It almost seems like the further down this road that you go, the narrower it gets, weeding out those who are not sold out for Christ. Even those who once had a fruitful walk with the Lord, can be choked out by the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches. Those who try to carry extra weight of things they are unwilling to part with, will find themselves unable to bear the extra load, and become too weak to continue moving forward.
David here is recognizing idle talk, pride, and backbiting coming from the mouths of those who consider themselves to be children of God. This is true in the church today. Bitterness in the heart of the Christian will spring up rotten fruit, but often you cannot see what is growing under the surface. They may have the appearance of godly fruitfulness, which is why they are so deceptive and harmful to the body of Christ. In the rare circumstance that the church leadership deals with such person, the others may even come to the defense of such a person, because they were completely fooled. They question the discernment of the leaders and cause even more damage than the one sinning, adding to the division in the body.
As women, we especially need to be careful that we do not get caught up in the enemy's trap and join in on the gossip and backbiting that can take place within Christian circles. Unfortunately, it is so easy with social media to do so, without ever leaving one's home. If you have the time to keep up on these accounts, you may need to check your heart before God to see if you have become idle. II Thessalonians 3:10-12, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.” The work that God has called you to do, even if you never leave the home for a job, should keep you busy. When we make time for other things, our work in the home suffers. Not only that, but our relationship with God suffers as we make our relationships with fellow man our priority. It is shameful to report that you did not have time to read your Bible, when you've made time to read your social media feeds.
Help, Lord , for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things, Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is Lord over us?” “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the Lord ; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.” The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord , You shall preserve them from this generation forever. The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Psalms 12:1-8
ReplyDeleteIn this psalm, David is speaking of people, who are double-sided. They may flatter you one moment and then speak evil against you the next.
This is something that happens many times in the church. There are those who are back-biting, saying one thing to their face, but another when the person isn't around. Although these people flatter people with their tongue, their hearts are wicked. There are also those who are idle and in every one's business not focused on themselves, but rather gossiping about others.
We as christians should not be double-sided people. Say one thing and do the complete opposite. Are words and our actions should line up. Many people may say they love God, but it is by their actions which show wether or not that is true. If we say we love God, but don't keep His commands and living in a way that is not pleasing to Him, do we really love Him. Our actions needs to live up to our words. Just saying that we are a christian or that we go to church does not make us saved.