Psalm 12
Pastor David Groendyk

One of the most classic episodes of the 1960s surreal, sci-fi, horror television series The Twilight Zone was about a man named Henry Bemis. Henry Bemis loved books but was always bothered by people and work so that he was never able to spend time reading. One day, as he is quietly taking a lunch break at his job, an atomic bomb explodes outside. Henry Bemis survives, but apparently nuclear war has destroyed the earth, leaving Henry as the only surviving human in the entire world. Finally, no more people and no more work! He has all the time in the world to read! Now, imagine you are Henry from The Twilight Zone, but instead of being the only human left, you are the only Christian left. That’s the situation David finds himself in when it comes to Psalm 12. Every faithful, godly person is gone (metaphorically), and he is surrounded by liars, flatterers, insincere people, and manipulators. (That is not to say that Christians can’t be liars, flatterers, insincere, or manipulators. In fact, every believer should closely examine their lives for these sins, especially since we’re swimming in a culture that approves of those actions.) So what does David do?

David prays for God to cut off the liars (vv. 3–4). It is an urgent prayer for an urgent situation. To be an army of one does not bode well for most people; however, as Christians, we always have an ally to go to. David knows he can only rely on God, so his prayers to defeat his enemies and protect him are urgent. How urgent are your prayers? In the youth group last night, one point we talked about was how easy it is to live the Christian life in half-hearted kind of way, especially when it comes to praying. It’s easy to mumble through a rote prayer or a few words simply because we know we should. But our prayers should always have the note of urgency, fervency, and wholeheartedness, because we ought to know that God is the only help on earth or in heaven that can truly change things. Notice this as well in verse 8. It doesn’t appear that David is rescued after his prayer! Ralph Davis titles verses 7–8 ‘a present paradox’. Derek Kidner titles them ‘a continuing war’. Either way, it’s not the note you expect this psalm to end on. It teaches us that we must always be mindful of our constant, continual dependence on God. There’s never an off-day for depending on God for life and breath and everything. Therefore, our prayers must always be urgent and wholehearted.

Here’s the other big message of this psalm, according to Allen Ross: “In a world that lives by deception and tyranny, God’s words are the only true words.” What a firm foundation for our feet it is to know that we can always take God at his word 100% of the time! The Lord and the Scriptures are truly a solid rock on which we stand although everything around is shifting sands. Notice that it is the Lord himself speaking a promise of protection in verse 5, then immediately in verse 6, David calls his words pure, refined, precious, true. And he appropriates those words to his own life in verse 7 and praises God that he will guard his children in every generation forever despite the wicked crawling around them. In John 17:17, Jesus himself says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” What a stark contrast to the liars surrounding David!

Go back to Henry Bemis in The Twilight Zone. If you haven’t seen that episode before, I’m about to spoil the ending. The first thing Henry does after he discovers he’s the last person on earth is to pull out a book, ready to finally spend some time reading in peace. But he immediately drops his high-strength reading glasses, steps on them, and crushes them. It’s a funny but tragic ending to his story. He found himself alone, and when he went to be consoled by his one true love (books), he was completely let down. Not so for Christians! When you find yourself all alone, God will absolutely answer the call. Pray urgently, and trust wholeheartedly.