Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips, and a double heart they speak.
May the Lord cut off all the flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boast,
those who say, With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us, who is master over us?
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.
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 forever.
On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of men.
It doesn't take too long in this psalm before you realize it's not one of thanksgiving or praise.
But this is a psalm of lament.
And if you look at the psalm, you'll find that a third of the psalm is made up of laments.
So from that we can kind of get an idea of how important a role that is for us in our Christian growth.
But also it gets us to see how real some of these struggles are in our life.
Because God has laid it on the heart of David and the other writers to bring laments out.
So what I want to do is just focus on the aspects of a lament as we look at the psalm.
And just see how it helps us and what exactly is going on here.
And as you guys know, a lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow about a trial or trouble that's going on.
And then there's a cry out to the Lord for help from that.
So as we look at Psalm 12, the first part of a lament is the cry.
And we see that in verse 1 where David says,
Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone.
For the faithful have vanished from among the children of men.
So we see right from the beginning that he's crying out to the Lord.
And the problem that's going on is that he feels alone in his struggles.
His struggles in following the Lord and having a pure and righteous life.
And those around him that were once godly are gone.
So whether it's people close by or people around him, people that are in authority over him,
there's this oppression that has come in as everyone who was once their support he feels is now gone.
Now, this is a lament that's not a personal one, although it sounds at first like it.
But it's a lament that affects the whole family of God, the people of God.
So not only does it affect them in that it's the people of God that are turning away from God,
but it's those few that are left that are wanting to stand strong that are feeling the effect of those who are pulling away.
The second part of the lament is the complaint.
And that's pulled out in verse 2 where David is talking about what the real problem is.
And that's basically the lies, the flattering, the double talk, the hypocrisy.
It's the, I'm not sure who my friends are because on one hand they tell me things they want me to hear,
but behind my back it's something else.
So that just adds to the cry.
It's feeling like that you're alone and at the same time you don't know who to trust.
And I think we can all relate to this.
I know I can and I'm not the only one that has family issues,
but we all know there's people who talk and act one way to you.
And then when you're not there it's something different.
And it's hard for family or friends to relate to that.
Like if you're the one doing it, it's hard to connect with that coming from someone who's a friend or family member
because it just doesn't make sense, especially I think for Christians
because that's not how God calls us to roll.
That's not how we are to live.
So we have examples of that I'm sure in our own life,
but there's also examples all through the Bible of how this has taken place.
So here there isn't an exact example that's being talked about.
The thought is that this was taking around the time of Saul's reign.
So we have Saul and his persecution against David, which was just years of relentless, like wanting to kill David.
And just to get into the details of all that was involved, that was pretty oppressive for David
and for him to at one point have a chance to kill Saul and then him not
because he knew that God anointed him was really just a testimony to us on how God will protect us
when we do what he calls us to do, even when every part of our body wants to just deal with the problem,
which in that case was to kill Saul.
Another example that I was thinking of was with Joseph and his brothers.
We just finished reading through that section in children's ministry.
And just the fact that Joseph was just seeking to do what God was calling him to do.
And it seemed like at every turn he was being lied against by his brothers, sold into slavery.
You know, he tried to be a good slave and then he was lied against and thrown into prison.
So it was just time after time where he's being bombarded by these lies and hypocrisy.
And in the end, God was still protected, just like he did with David.
And then finally, the biggest example of all would be Jesus Christ
and the lies and the accusations that he endured
all because of the people who wanted to keep their political power.
They wanted to keep their status.
And in order to do that, they thought they needed to lie and accuse Jesus and ultimately kill him.
And they did, but we know the story doesn't end there.
So praise be to God for that.
So we have the cry and the complaint.
And next we have the petition, which is in verses 3 and 4.
And this is the crying out to God for help.
May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boast.
And those who say,
With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us,
who is master over us.
So here we have
we have the description of
people who are very boastful and selfish.
They're very self-centered.
There's no
looking to God for anything.
They are master over their own lives
and they don't need God there.
David knows this
and this is the problem that he's dealing with
and he's asking God for help.
And just while we're
we're talking about
these type of people
who look at just themselves
and not to God
and are proud
and boastful,
these are the type of people
that we all know can ruin relationships.
They ruin families.
They also split churches.
I've been in one where that's the case
and I know you guys have heard about it.
So as we are on this section,
I just wanted to take a moment
just to
just to tell you to guard yourself
against falling into that temptation
of
thinking more about ourselves
and less about God.
Because as we start to do that,
then
Satan is going to do everything he can
to keep you from looking to God.
And when you're looking to yourself,
that's when you don't need God
or so you think
and things fall apart.
So
continue to
to focus on Christ.
The next section is in verse 5
and that is
the response that
that David gets back
from God.
not all Psalms
have this type of response back.
Some of them
there's that plea
and there's that
asking God for help
and then
there's
there's a kind of a
preaching to oneself
as they
remind themselves
of
God
and how
he's the protector
and he will
come through for them.
But here in verse 5
we actually get a word back
from the Lord.
Because the poor
are plundered,
because the needy groaned,
I will now arise
says the Lord.
I will place him
in the safety
for which he longs.
In that case
speaking of the
the poor
and the needy.
So
God sees
what's going on
and God
judges those
who sin against him.
Those who
oppress
others.
So we can
take heart
in that
in that response
from God
knowing that
at times
we want to fix it
but
God knows
what's going on.
God has a plan
and so
we do
our part
by not spreading
those lies
and hypocrisies
and we let God
take it from there.
And
the last part
of lament
is a statement
of confidence
and that usually
comes
towards the end
as the psalmist
is reminded
of
who God is
and who he is
for us
and we see
that in verse
six and seven
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
forever.
In that last part
verse seven
you will keep them
speaking of the
poor and needy
God will keep them
and then he will
guard us
from this generation
forever.
So that's
that's the promise
that we have
that we know
we can hold on to.
And one
one phrase
that as I was
reading through
this kind of
kind of stuck
in my mind
was that he was
talking about
silver being
refined
and I just
wondered
why
why silver
like why did he
pick silver here
and not gold
because to me
gold is
is worth more
you know
if
that to me
would be pure
maybe because
it is worth more
but not necessarily
and I looked
around a little bit
but didn't really
see a whole lot
on why silver
was used here
so I'm just going
to give you
my own interpretation
and may not be
biblical but I think
it's still something
that's helpful
to hold on to
and that was
as we see gold
used in the Old
Testament
a lot of times
gold is
is more for
decorative reasons
more for display
whereas silver
is something a little
bit more attainable
silver is more
for something
that's
I don't want
to say useful
but like
for utensils
or bowls
you know
a silver utensil
would be something
you could use
the gold plating
on something
may not be
necessarily
something you
could use
so in thinking
of the words
of the Lord
and then being
at like something
pure
but attainable
and usable
that that made
more sense
to me
so the words
of the Lord
being like
like pure
holy silver
that we're able
to use
for whatever
God calls
us to use
just made
more sense
and thinking
of that
purification
process
that they
take silver
through
to refine
a metal
seven times
as they melt
it
and then pull
the imperfections
and the dross
off the top
of that
melted
precious metal
you just get
the idea
of this
total pureness
when it's done
they said
that the
that the person
doing
the
the purifying
of the silver
would look
at the surface
of the silver
and he should
be able to see
his reflection
increase
as he pulled
off those
imperfections
and the
the dirt
and all
that got
mixed into
it
and to me
that was a
beautiful picture
of what Christ
is looking to do
he's looking to
see a reflection
of himself
and so that's
a good example
of what he
does with us
is to continue
to refine
us and purify
us
and then the
last
the last
verse
just as
the
the psalm
ends up
is
kind of
a reminder
that
that God
is going to
guard us
from this
generation
which is the
end of verse
seven
he'll guard us
from this
generation
forever
this generation
of godless
self-centered
people
that
they spread
lies
it sounds
rough to say
it like that
but really
that's the
goal of a lot
of people
is
they're looking
out for
themselves
and with
that comes
lies
and hypocrisy
and so
that's the
generation
that we live
in
and it wasn't
just at
David's time
but it's
something that's
ongoing now
so
for him
to say
guard us
from this
generation
forever
makes sense
because
it's not
his generation
but it's
ongoing with
us
we deal
with that
as well
and then
in verse
eight
it being
on every
side
the wicked
prowl
you know
it's all
around us
you know
it isn't
something
that
decreases
and we
know
that the
world
is
getting
worse
and not
better
that's
just a
happy thought
to think
about
on this
Friday
night
isn't
it
but really
what David
wants to
say
through all
this
is to
tell us
the truth
about
what's
going
on
and the
fact
that
God's
promises
are there
to hold
us up
even
those times
where we
feel burdened
down
with grief
we feel
burdened
down
like
everyone
is against
us
but God
sees us
there
God
knows
that
we're
there
and he's
able to
lift us
up
and that's
what he's
able to
guard us
against
knowing
what is
out in
the world
so
the point
of all
that
as I
went
through
it
was
to cling
to the
words
of God
because
that's
what's
whole
that's
what's
pure
and true
and it's
the words
of men
that are
not
and it's
so easy
to think
about what
men say
and what
they feel
and how
you know
they affect
us
how we're
doing
well
towards
men
but to
keep
God's
word
in view
as what
truly
matters
is
will benefit
us the
most