Daily Devotional Sunday 3rd October 2021
by William Moody
Psalms 11–12
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
11:1 In the LORD I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”1
4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
5 The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
The Faithful Have Vanished
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.2 A Psalm of David.
12:1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
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 tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard us3 from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.Footnotes
[1] 11:3
Or for the foundations will be destroyed; what has the righteous done?
[2] 12:1Probably a musical or liturgical term
[3] 12:7Or guard him (ESV)
The dilemma confronting David in Psalm 12 is that all the godly people seem to have disappeared (v1). All around he just sees those who are evil and very two-faced (v2). This is surely how the Christian can often feel in the workplace and at school today. Like David you need to take these situations before the Lord and constantly pray against evil (v3-4).
As David does this, he grows in confidence that the Lord will act for his people who are suffering (v5). In resting in the Lord, David has a knowledge of safety even though he is surrounded by evil. It is the pure and perfect Word of God (v6-7) that gives David this confidence. Scripture like refined silver is pure and precious. ‘Purified seven times’, seven the number of perfection. God’s Word is perfectly reliable.
David is not taken away from evil (v8), but he is kept safe in the middle of it by the wonderful power and wisdom of God. Let us trust in this!
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