Able to Save (2)

The words of the LORD are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times. Psalm 12.6

No taste for truth
It is a fundamental mistake on the part of Christians in our day not to find in the implanted Word of God all the fullness of salvation their souls may desire. When we look anywhere other than the promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ – whether in wealth or relationships or politics – we will invariably be disappointed. Only when the Word of God has preeminence in our lives will we know the promised joy and rejoicing of the Lord, come what may.

In Psalm 12, David lamented the social and cultural situation in his day, when godliness was on the decline and lies, flattery, and deception were increasingly the norm. Neighbor-love had been supplanted by self-love, and people insisted they had a right to say or do pretty much whatever they wanted.

He might as well have been writing about our own day.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 1 that people who will not acknowledge God and serve Him with grateful hearts will turn instead to “the Lie.” “The Lie,” as Paul explained, arises when people deny the authority of God, reserving the right to choose their own loyalties and lifestyle. They firmly believe they are doing what is right and true for them; however, in the eyes of God, they have turned a deaf ear to the wooing voice of truth, and have become ensnared in the Lie of unbelief.

People embrace the Lie because the truth of God strikes them as confining; they aren’t willing to be bridled when it comes to their personal preferences, but want to have free rein to do whatever their sinful hearts might wish.

The problem, of course, is that such unbridled living tends to generate all kinds of unhappiness in society, for the redress of which people look to politics, but always to no avail.

Even Christians can be led to believe that politics and government are the solution to the evils of the Lie. If we can just get the right people in office or the right justices on the Court, then everything will begin to settle down and the progress of evil can be checked.

So how’s that been working out for us over the past generation?

The place of safety
David explained that only one thing can deliver us from the ravages of the Lie: the truth of God, which He has given us in His Word. The truth of God, revealed in Scripture, is the refuge and rock where our souls can realize the salvation God intends for us.

In Psalm 12, God determined to rise up against the Lie on behalf of all those who had been harmed by it. His weapon of choice in vanquishing the Lie was not politics, but His Word (vv. 5, 6). The only safety people may hope to know from the ravages of the Lie is to be found by clinging to the truth of God, revealed in Scripture.

Whereas the Lie, in all its forms, is riddled with cancerous distortions and corruptions of truth, the Word of God is pure, “Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” God gives us the pure and simple truth, which can set us free from the power of sin and lead us into the path of blessedness and peace, joy and rejoicing.

God keeps His Word
David happily declared that God will keep His Word (v. 7). He will not back down from His truth or from doling out the consequences of its rejection to those who think they know better than He where the path of happiness lies. The ills and troubles presently plaguing our society are all the consequence of the Lie, and you can see them concisely outlined in Romans 1.18-32. All those who look to the implanted Word, trusting in what God has revealed as the way of truth, will find that His truth guards and keeps them from the consequences of the Lie, even though the Lie may continue to hold many in its thrall (Ps. 12.7, 8).

David noted that the wicked will continue to prowl about, exalting vileness by every means. But sooner or later they, too, will come up against the truth of God. Like a two-edged sword, the truth which carves the way to blessings for those who obey it will break in pieces all those who resist or oppose it (cf. Rev. 19.11-16).

The hope of every generation is to be found only in the truth of God, revealed in His Word, in having that Word so firmly planted in their souls that salvation and all its joy and rejoicing become their defining motif in life. We look in vain for political solutions to our society’s ills, unless those solutions are grounded in the truth of God, which we learn from Scripture.

Scripture, not politics, must have the place of preeminence in showing us the way to righteousness, peace, and joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

For reflection
1.  Meditate on Romans 1.18-32. What does Paul mean by “the Lie”? What forms does the Lie take in our day?

2.  Why is politics an inefficient and ineffective measure for trying to redress the damage done by the Lie?

3.  We need politics, of course; government is a gift of God (Rom. 13.1-4). But how can you see that politics and government can easily become servants of the Lie rather than of God?

Next steps – Conversation: Read Psalm 12 in its entirety. How can you see that this psalm offers a helpful commentary on our own times? Talk with some Christian friends about this. Consider how you might help one another to find the “safety” God intends for us in the pure truth of God’s Word.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.