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 very last person of integrity
has vanished from the human race!
2 Everyone lies to each other.
They flatter and fawn—
think one thing and say another.
3 May YHWH cut off their sweet-talking lips
and cut out their big-talking tongues.
4 “We say whatever we like,” they boast
“to 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 are 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 people everywhere exalt what’s base.
Lamenting that there’s disinformation everywhere and nobody 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. And they blame others for their own wrongs. 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 maintain their power, plunder the poor, and take everything for themselves. They assure themselves they’ll never have to answer to anyone for anything they do or say. 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 from the poor what little they had. 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 powerful, God’s words are utterly reliable, purified to the nth degree. This is what makes David so confident in God. On the surface, nothing has changed. Still in charge, the wicked swagger and strut. And everybody still honors whatever moral trash they endorse. 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 what’s vile. Yet you’ve spoken definitively in Christ and your word is utterly reliable. So I ask you to do as you’ve promised 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.
