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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - Psalms 12:1 - 12:8
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Psa_12:1. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
One might have thought that David still lived among us, his cry is so timely, so exactly true to the position of affairs today. What a prayer he offers! Driven away from confidence in men, he cries, “Help, Lord! Thou mighty One, put forth thy power! Thou faithful One, display thy truth! ‘Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.’”
Psa_12:2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
They speak vanity; there is nothing in it. It is all froth, no reality; vain speech about vain subjects, having no real spiritual power to help the man that heareth: “They speak vanity.” “With a double heart do they speak:” saying one thing, and meaning another; trifling with words; orthodox to the ear, heterodox to the heart. Oh, how much there is of this falseness in these days! Still are there many who “speak with flattering lips and with a double heart.” It is some comfort to us to know that no new thing has happened unto us; we are merely going through an old part of the road which David traversed long ago.
Psa_12:3-4. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
There is the point in dispute. Man will be lord of himself, and God will be Lord of all and everything; and there can be no compromise between these two. Not even a man’s lips are really his own. Who gave the gift of speech? Who created the mouth? Who is LORD over us? Why, the answer is simple enough! He that made us, he that redeemed us, he should be Lord over us. Let us willingly put ourselves in subjection to him.
Psa_12:5. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD;
God takes notice of the oppression of poor men, and especially of poor saints when they are tried by the wickedness of the age: “Now will I arise, saith the Lord.”
Psa_12:5-6. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
There is no mistake about the words of this blessed Book. The very words themselves are as accurate, as infallible, as silver is pure when it has been seven times refined by the most skillful artist. There is no improving upon God’s words. We dare not leave one of them out. We would not presume to put one of our own side by side with them: “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”
Psa_12:7-8. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
When sin gets into the high places of the earth, then it becomes very abundant. Every evil man takes liberty to creep out into public life when some great leader in vice occupies the throne. God save the people when such is the case!
This exposition consisted of readings from PSALMS 12, 13, and 14.
Psa_12:1. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
The Psalm speaks of a very discouraging time, and records a very dreary fact, but the psalmist is wise, and turns to God with that short, sententious prayer, “Help, Lord.”
Psa_12:2-3. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
They will not be able to continue speaking falsely and proudly for over; a shovelful of earth from the grave-digger’s spade will silence them, and a terrible display of God’s justice will make them speechless for ever.
Psa_12:4-5. Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
That is all it is, only a puff, — the biggest brag of the wicked, the most tremendous threat against the Lord’s people, is but a puff after all; and God will set his people high above all those who puff at them.
Psa_12:6-8. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt beep them, O LORD, thou shall preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted.
Now let us read in Jeremiah’s prophecy, chapter 8. Remember, dear brethren, that Jeremiah had the very sorrowful task of warning a people who would not give heed to his warnings. He prophesied evil, — evil which began to come upon the people even while he prophesied, yet they would not turn to God. I sometimes think Jeremiah was the greatest of all the prophets, because, in the teeth of perpetual opposition, with no measure of success whatever, he continued to be faithful to God and to deliver the message with which he was sent, weeping the while over people who would not weep for themselves.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 12.; and Jeremiah 8, and Jer_9:1.