Psalm 12:1 – 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 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. (NIV)

A common thread amongst the prayers that make up the psalms is this: The wicked seem to be winning!  This psalm opens with a cry for help, and then a proclamation that all of the faithful people have vanished from the earth.  Certainly, the psalmist uses a little hyperbole, but we can understand the emotion for we have been there ourselves.  Just as the psalmist often laments the lack of good people, when life hits us hard we are prone to do the same.  If we were to stay with such an emotion, depression and hopelessness would soon direct our every step.  

Because we live in a fallen world tainted by sin, we must look beyond the evil that often surrounds us.  There is much that is flawed in our world, but like the psalmist, we must look to God, for “the words of the Lord are flawless” (verse 6).  The lesson from Psalm 12 is that when we are feeling overwhelmed by the evil in the world, we must stop and remind ourselves that God is our protector and will keep us safe (verse 7).  We cannot let the woes of this world keep us down.  The Apostle Paul told us in Colossians 1:13 that God, “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son.” 

Today, no matter what is going on around us that would seek to bring our spirits low, let us remember that while there is much wickedness around us, God is our protector.  We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness!

Posted by Ramón Torres