Today's Featured Psalm
Psalm 12

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To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
   for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
   with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
   the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 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 The words of the LORD are pure words,
   like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
   purified seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will keep them;
   you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
   as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

Scripture taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm Devotional
The Battle for Truth

Psalm 12 describes a battle for truth. In this battle, the words of men are pitted against the Word of God.

The psalm begins with the lament-filled cry of the psalmist. He is vexed by the decadence around him. He feels alone, suffering from an Elijah complex (see 1 Kings 19:10). However, the psalmist’s despair is not caused by idolatry, as Elijah’s despair was, but rather by the abuse of language.

It is important to recognize that language is a gift of God. Our ability to communicate is a reflection of our being in the image of God. God used His Word to create and redeem, and He calls us to use language in a similar manner to fulfill the cultural mandate. However, the psalmist looks around and sees perverse uses of language that he enumerates in verses 2-5.

First, verse 2 tells us that lying is a perversion of language. The Hebrew word for “lies” implies speaking not just falsehood, but also empty words. Second, verse 2 condemns the perversion of flattery. The Hebrew word for flattery could be translated as “smoothness.” God hates the smooth talk of flattery because it is used to misguide and manipulate (Prov. 26:28; 29:5; Jude 1:16).

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Deliverance album art Help, Lord (Psalm 12)
The Book of Psalms for Worship | Deliverance