Taking Him at His Word

As we read Psalm 12 together, let’s take a close look at the reliability of the Word of God.

Sometimes our circumstances skew how we see things. (Sometimes??? Wow, the temptation is almost constant!)

Later this year, we’ll be talking about how our faith in God has to be so firm that we follow Him and obey Him—no matter what! But that’s a hard thing to do if we haven’t built ourselves up in the confidence that YHVH will do what He has promised.

You see, the problem is that our head knowledge tells us that the words of God are true and dependable. But when our circumstances say otherwise, because YHVH’s timetable is slower than we think it should be, then we suddenly doubt and rush in and try to fix problems ourselves.

This was true of Job and his three friends, whose reality was not matching up to the horrid circumstances in which Job had been found. (See Job 11-12).

It’s also true for us today, as David reminds us in Psalm 12. The first words we read are,

“Help, YHVH!”

And then David lists his circumstances:

• The godly man ceases.
• The faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
• They speak idly everyone with his neighbor.
• They speak with flattering lips.
• They speak with a double heart.
• They speak proud things.
• They feel entitled to say what they want (“we own our lips”).
• They don’t submit to any masters (“who is lord over us?”).
• They prowl on every side.
• They exalt vileness.

This reminds me of something James wrote:

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh” (James 3:8-12).

We’re all guilty of having a double heart. I am. You are.

Thankfully, by the grace of God and because of the work of His Spirit in our lives, we are able to conquer this evil tendency, some to a greater degree than others. It’s something we should keep working on! When we notice our tongues running away from us, we need to stop talking and listen to the urging of the Spirit within us.

And we need to examine our hearts to see what the source of our words is. Like a spring of water, words don’t come from nowhere.

Sometimes small children think that water comes from the faucet in the kitchen. But is the faucet the actual source? No, as we grow, we learn that water first came through a pipe, and that pipe had its source far away in a spring that bubbled out from the earth, long before it became a river or a well or whatever brought it to our kitchen sinks.

We have to protect the water supply of our hearts from being polluted. (Watching out for the “three frogs” is a good start, as I wrote a few days ago.)

But we all get polluted from time to time, and only confession and repentance can make it right again—although the words that came from a polluted spring probably did damage in others, so we’ll need to try to make restitution and restore those damaged hearts. This is just another reminder of why we should stop talking sooner next time, because damage leaves scars that are difficult to remove.

All the decades of coming into contact with poisonous words in others can leave us tainted and scared to trust. I personally think this is why we struggle trusting the words of YHVH.

“‘For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,’ says YHVH;
‘I will set him in the safety for which he yearns'” (Psalm 12:5).

What if He does NOT arise?, our hearts think. What if I’m oppressed again? What if there is no end to my sighing? What if the safety I yearn for never comes?

And that’s when we have to turn head knowledge into unshakeable confidence in His promise:

“The words of YHVH are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6).

My friend Christine Miller does an excellent job of explaining the refining process of silver, and I urge you to read it if you haven’t already.

But I’d also like to share with you a handy trick my mother taught me, when you need to really sink into a verse of Scripture and meditate on every. single. word. so that you are completely confident of what it is teaching.

Read the verse over and over again. Each time through, emphasize a new word.

Like this:

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The words of YHVH are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

• His words aren’t like man’s words. His words are His promises, His declarations, the things by which all things are brought into existence.
• He is the eternal, unchanging Creator, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• His words are pure, clean, shining, all mud and muck removed.
• His message to me comes in the form of words, which I am privileged to read in my Bible. I can “fact check” everything else to those black-and-white words.
• His words are extremely valuable, to be treasured by my heart.
• His words have been tried, proven over centuries to be unfailing, His covenants and promises never failing to come true.
• The fire of trials and circumstances have proven His words. There is no limit to the heat they can take!
• His words are true here on earth, in the clay of the life where I live.
• As the number seven symbolizes an entire week, a complete cycle, they also symbolize fullness, completion, perfection.

The words of YHVH are utterly and completely pure and true. I have no words to make this better! What He says will happen!

So when YHVH tells the oppressed and poor that He will arise and set him in the safety for which he yearns (Psalm 12:5), we know it is true.

“You shall keep them, YHVH,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.” (Psalm 12:7-8).

I’m not sure what the word “them” is referring to in verse 7. Will YHVH keep His people forever, or is it saying He will guard His words forever and preserve them from this generation.

Both possibilities seem valid. When you are in the place of the oppressed and needy, you can rest assured that He will guard (keep) and preserve you from the wicked of this generation also. You might have to go through a time of waiting, like Job did, where it feels like you’re unguarded and unprotected, and that everything you have worked for has been lost.

But that’s not what the Word of YHVH says. And it’s very likely this verse is saying that He will preserve the promises of His Word forever—no, EVERY SINGLE WORD which He has spoken—from being altered or changed in any way.

He never talks out of both sides of His mouth. You can trust Him. But while you’re waiting, it often helps to keep repeating His promises over and over and over again, so that you won’t forget.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.