In Psalm 12, the answer to David's concern comes from knowing who the wicked are by their words. Identifying who is truly among the righteous is a step we must take when surrounded by evil.
“I will now arise,” says the Lord, “I will protect them from those who malign them.” The Lord does not lie. His words are flawless. He promises to keep us safe and protected. Only His perspective on us matters.
A psalm of David. Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. that says, "We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips --who is our master?"
* [Psalm 12] A lament. The psalmist, thrown into a world where lying and violent people persecute the just (Ps 12:2–3), prays that the wicked be punished (Ps 12:4–5). The prayer is not simply for vengeance but arises from a desire to see God's justice appear on earth.
In this section, David expresses assurance that God will intervene on behalf of the oppressed. The wicked spoke lies and deceptive words, but David reflects upon the Lord's words as pure and dependable. He is confident that the Lord will protect the afflicted.
Psalms 12:2 Meaning and Commentary
And this is a further proof of the justness of the above complaint; [and] with a double heart do they speak: or "with an heart and an heart" F4; such are double minded men, who say one thing, and mean another; their words are not to be depended upon; there is no faithfulness in them.
Psalm 12:3 Asks For God's Help Against Words Of Evil
Help us not to utter lies to our neighbor. Help us not to speak with a double heart with flattering lips. Psalm 12:2. So God, we pray that you would be honored in our mouths today, honored in what we say.
As one of the Psalms of lament, this lamentation opens with prayer about the state of the human race. Psalm 12:1-2 read: "Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
Lament is not only for the suffering; it is for solidarity with the suffering. We love our neighbor when we allow their experience of pain to become the substance of our prayer. This, after all, is what Jesus did for us.
It is a framework for feelings.
This biblical song of sorrow is more than the sinful spewing of every emotion in your soul. Lament validates the expression of pain while providing a framework—a God-centered structure—so we avoid falling into the trap of self-centeredness, which can take root in times of deep sadness.
David is confident that the Lord will protect His people from the harm their wicked contemporaries are inflicting. David concludes the psalm with a description of the widespread evil committed by the wicked. It is everywhere, and it is highly praised throughout the land.
Asaph is identified with the twelve Psalms and is said to be the son of Berechiah who is said to be an ancestor of the Asaphites. The Asaphites were one of the guilds of musicians in the First Temple. This information is clarified in the Books of Chronicles.
Psalm 12:6 Encourages Us to Purify Our Words
God, we praise you for your word. We praise you for revealing yourself, your truth, all that we need that is true and right and good, to know you and to grow in relationship with you and to experience abundant life in this world. We praise you for your word.
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. 8 even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land. 8 From the wicked who collect honors For their wonderful lies. 8 The wicked wander everywhere, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.
This discloses the crass attitude of the proud boasters. Both in David's era (Psalm 12:1–3) and today, arrogant "big talkers" assume they will always get away with deceptive language.
the Lord's throne is in heaven. his eyelids try every mortal being. but those who delight in violence his soul abhors. scorching wind shall be their portion to drink.
These four elements (turning, complaining, asking, and trusting) serve as the basic ingredients of lament. Since biblical laments are poems set to music, they don't always include every element. But this framework provides the structure for talking to God and praying together about the brokenness of the world.
The Lament Summary
The story revolves around Lona who's in deep pain and desperately searching for a stranger to hear his pain in order to make himself feel better. He tried sharing his grief thrice with strangers and received hurtful-ignored responses. At first, Lona shared with a military man.
What is Lament? A lament is a prayer expressing sorrow, pain, or confusion. Lament should be the chief way Christians process grief in God's presence. Because many Christians have grown up in churches which always look on the bright side, lament can be jarring.
The psalms of communal lament are a group of Psalm Forms from the Hebrew Bible, classified by their focus on laments expressing deep sorrow for the travails of a nation and as a group asking for God's blessing or intervention.
9 Such prayer follows the form of lament psalms: address to God, complaint, confession, petition, words of assurance. On one occasion we prayed Psalm 94 with a group, suggesting they imagine some group of people whose suffering seems articulated by the language of the psalm.
Lamentation can be described as a loud, religious “Ouch!” To begin with, the laments we find in Scripture are addressed directly to God: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice!” (Psalm 130:1) and “My soul, too, is utterly terrified; but you, O Lord, how long…?” (Psalm 6:4).
Psalm 12:1–4 is a prayer of deliverance from proud, evil people who spread lies. David sees a perilous decline of righteous individuals. From his perspective, it seems as if the entire world has turned to evil. The wicked employ lies, flattery, and hypocrisy.
Psalm 12:1-8 KJV
For the oppression of the poor, For the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the LORD are pure words: As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Crying out to God is an admission of one's coming to the end of self and placing hope in God alone. The psalmist declared, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears” (Psalm 18:6).