Psalm 12, Help, Lord

By Chance Strickland, February 25, 2024

Roy Zuck, “This psalm expresses David’s confidence in the untarnished words of God that assure him He will deliver those who seek His salvation.”

The Situation of the World around him, v.1-2.

Why does David need the Lord to help?

  • From his vantage point the godly man is gone.
  • The faithful have vanished.
  • Everyone lies, flatters, and is two-faced in speech.

Williams, “the church has become concerned about its image in the community rather than with the substance of its life.”

Wiersbe introduces this section of his commentary with a note on “double speak”. On some university campuses, what once was called “Home Economics” is now “The College of Applied Life Studies.” In Tucson, Arizona, potholes are no more, because they’re now known as “pavement deficiencies.” In politics, new taxes are “revenue enhancements,.” In military jargon, “retreat” is “backloading of augmentation personnel.” And, if, while you’re backloading, you get shot, the bullet hole is “a ballistically induced aperture in the subcutaneous environment.”

  1. Do not develop an Elijah complex.
  2. Do not practice double talk.

James 3:10, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Prov. 21:23, “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.”

Matt. 12:36-37, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Prov. 6:16-19, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

1 Timothy 3:8, “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;”

The Supplication to the One he Trusted, v.3-4.

Lawson writes, “He mourned that the nation had become a society of braggarts. With sickening arrogance, the wicked boasted, We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips. The wicked sensed no accountability to anyone, certainly not to God, whom they defied by asking, Who is our master?”

Calvin wrote that from Davids example, “we may learn to betake ourselves to God when we see nothing around us but black despair. We ought to be fully persuaded of this, that the greater the confusion of things in the world is, God is so much the readier to aid and assist (succour) his people, and that it is then the most proper season for him to interpose his assistance.”

The Security he Rested in, v.5-8.

Calvin said, “When, therefore, the injuries, the extortions, and the devastations of our enemies leave us nothing but tears and groans, let us remember that now the time is at hand when God intends to rise up to execute judgment. It is only when God makes us to understand, by his own voice, that he will be gracious to us, that we can entertain the hope of salvation.”

“There is no deceit, no flattery, no double meaning, no error in God’s words.” (Lawson)

Society spends fortunes to produce alternate truths that come and go and change generationally, while the absolute truth of God’s Word remains forever.

  1. Vernon McGee said, “That is one reason why we need to spend more time in the Word of God. It is the fortress into which God wants to put us.”

Spurgeon said, “The Bible has passed through the furnace of persecution, literary criticism, philosophic doubt, and scientific discovery, and has lost nothing but those human interpretations which clung to it as alloy to precious ore. The experience of the saints has tried it in every conceivable manner, but not a single doctrine or promise has been consumed in the most excessive heat.”

“God answered, and the psalmist now realizes that, regardless of what others do, he has the Word of the reliable God as his Rock and is able to stand on this firm foundation.” (Boice)

“When believers are surrounded and outnumbered by the wicked, they should pray to God, trusting in his promises and his protection.” (Lawson)