When truth is gone
We often don’t know how vital truth is till we find ourselves wading through a slough of lies and the oppressed pay the price for truth’s loss. Thankfully, God not only cares, but acts to defend the helpless.
A David psalm.
1 Help, YHWH!
There’s no one faithful left!
The last person of integrity
has vanished from the human race!
2 Everyone lies to each other.
They flatter and fawn—
say one thing and think another.
3 May YHWH cut off their sweet-talking lips
and cut out their big-talking tongues.
4 They boast, “We say whatever we like
and get whatever we want.
We answer to no one!”
5 But YHWH says,
“I’m going to take action now.
Because the poor are being plundered
the needy groaning
I will grant them the protection they long for.”
6 YHWH’s words are perfectly pure
like silver refined in a brick furnace
silver refined seven times over.
7 You will protect us, YHWH.
You’ll guard us forever from this lying lot
8 even though the wicked strut about
and everyone around honors moral rot.
Lamenting that nobody tells the truth or keeps their word, David cries for help. People boast and brag as if facts were totally irrelevant. All that matters is how they call things. For their own wrongs, they blame others. They praise those they detest in order to get what they want from them. Playing loose, they view their words as instruments of will and think they can just write their own rules. Their goals throughout are to plunder the poor, maintain their power, and take everything for themselves. They assure themselves they won’t ever have to answer to anyone for their words or actions. This is why David’s prayer is so urgent.
Mercifully, God commits to acting on behalf of the poor. He knows the powerful have taken what little the poor had from them. He’s heard the wretched of the earth groaning and is ready to defend them.
In sharp contrast to the empty talk of earth’s powerbrokers, God’s words are utterly reliable, purified to the nth degree. This is what gives David his confidence in God. On the surface, nothing has changed. Still in charge, the wicked still swagger and crow. And everybody still honors moral filth. But David knows everything has fundamentally changed because God has spoken.
Prayer:
Dear God, it seems not much has changed since David wrote this. The power-hungry still lie and abuse the poor. People still celebrate immorality. Yet you’ve spoken definitively in Christ and your word is utterly reliable. So I simply ask you to do as you’ve promised to do and defend the poor. Amen.
In your free moments today, pray these words,
YHWH’s words are perfectly pure
like silver refined in a brick furnace
silver refined seven times over.
