Psalm 12

1 Help, O Lord , for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2 They utter lies to each other;
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 tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own—who is our master?”
5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord ;
“I will place them in the safety for which they long.”
6 The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord , will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.
[1]

Lord,
I think that I see it. The reason that the poet is so comfortable in voicing his complaints is that he has ultimate confidence in your response. He is able to voice the reality of fear because he is ultimately confident in your help. He is able to voice doubt because beneath his doubt resides the core of faith. Because he finally trusts in you, he is able to voice his uncertainties about you. He dares to ask questions because he believes that there will, some day, be answers.

There is a counterfeit faith that serves as a vehicle for denial. Rather than being a force for confronting the toughest realities, it becomes an excuse for denying those hard realities. Rather than being a power for genuine forgiveness, faith becomes a way of avoiding guilt and shame. And because it avoids the tough issues, this counterfeit faith never has the experience of confronting and overcoming the really hard realities and the power of genuine faith is never experienced.

The poets of the Psalms never avoid an issue. They look the hardest realities of life in the eye, name them, fret and complain about them, give them to God in prayer, and then dare to trust and hope that God is sufficient to the challenge.

Lord, grant me this kind of faith.

PERSONAL PRAYERS:
Pray that God will grant you the power to meet the toughest realities in your life with genuine faith.
Pray that God will strengthen those in your personal web of friendship with faith.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “Thank you” to God.
In Christ’s name,
Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.