Psalm 12
John is a professional in the work a day world. He spends much of his time speaking with clients and colleagues about the business concerns of the day, listening and solving problems. John has a family he loves and church friends in whom he invests and enjoys. From outward appearance, Johns everyday life looks and feels quite normal.
However, under the surface John feels an emptiness that haunts him. He feels like he is in perpetual competition to win the favor of others and assert his position among his peers and even his family. The crux of John’s dilemma is that he excels at life’s game, but feels hollow inside, like he can never reach his destination of emotional and relational equilibrium. Inside, John lives in a hidden despair because he cannot find the peace and satisfaction with self that he believes would give life’s journey meaning.
Perhaps you can relate to John. If we are honest, I am sure there are times when each of us feels the loneliness and isolation of a life lived on the tide of public personal value. We spend time laboring to convince others we have merit; to gain the favor of coworkers, friends, and family. Perhaps only known to our subconscious we navigate and negotiate to impress the world around us, define our personal value and contribution to our life’s environment.
Conventional wisdom tells us that personal value comes from pushing ourselves into the flow of human interaction and making a name for ourselves. Conventional wisdom tells us to “just do it” and get into the game. We are told that if we want to find success and happiness then we tighten our gym suit strings and get with the program. Participate better, stronger and faster than the other people around us and acquire our piece of life’s pie. Afterall, we deserve it and if we want significance then we need to push ourselves into prominent positions in the social ecosystem. Advertise yourself. Make those social media posts sing and impress others with fancy holidays, professional acumen and personal triumph. Collect our audience of followers and we will find satisfaction in the praises of others.
If you have been around, then you have probably labored in this conventional wisdom world and maybe like John, found it to be unrewarding; a never-ending race that leaves you tired, discouraged and wanting. Today’s reading in Psalm 12, I think, has something to say to us about the experience John is traversing. Turning to God’s word we find biblical wisdom, His wisdom, and get a glimpse into the life of another man, David who like John was frustrated and tired of the success and self-promotion hamster wheel that life can sometimes be.
The biblical wisdom found in Psalm 12 starts with David’s discontent with the self-promoting and dishonest people around him. Through David, God shares with us the pitfalls of the world’s words of flattery and manipulative motives. He shows us the fatigue inducing barrage of public praise for self that seeks to dominate the social landscape. It is the world’s game and the world’s words – and David has had about all he can take of the deceit. Spurgeon put it this way, “The devil of this day is a well-spoken gentleman: he does not persecute – he rather attempts to persuade and to beguile.” (Spurgeon, 1883) At the root of David’s discontent is a sense that the world’s words never end and are rarely truthful. The inward gap in which we deposit the world’s words never fills the hole, and like John and David leave us in a state of exhaustion and frustration with the world’s deceptive word game. We all get tempted to hear the words of the world, believe them, and participate in their dissemination. The flattering words that inflate but do not inspire, gaining the praise of people but not the praise of God. The Holy Spirit, speaking to us in Psalm 12 helps us identify this issue by telling us the truth, which can be trusted to point us in the right direction. Luther put it like this, “The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth, because he makes us true, upright men, without whom all men are liars.” (Luther, 2000) In scripture we hear the inspired words of truth that steer us away from the deceptive world of shallow words and self-promotion. In hearing God’s truth, we learn and grow in an accurate knowledge of who we are, but more importantly, who God is and what he has supplied in the person and work of Christ.
In the second half of Psalm 12, David turns a corner and points out the alternative to the world’s words, God’s words, and makes two helpful points of application. First, God cares for those afflicted by the manipulation of the world’s words and understands the need for rescue from the wheel of personal social marketing. God sees the race we are in and the games people play. It does not go unnoticed, and we are confronted to see it the way God sees it. We are called to recognize our need for redemption from the world’s word cycle.
Second, like a cup of cool water, God’s words about who we are personally and our inherent value in His world, refreshes our souls and provides peace. A peace that does fill the void. A reality that is beyond the foibles and shortcomings of this present age and the flattering manipulations that ring hollow. We are provided sonar that identifies where the solid ground is located. It is in God and his central role in our identity and daily walk. Calvin summarizes this idea thus: “Let the faithful, therefore, in our day, not be unduly discouraged at the melancholy sight of a very corrupt and confused state of the world.” (Calvin, 2003) In Him we find dependable and truthful words that are pure, safe and zero in on our value that is centered in his provision.
The final and most important provision for John, and ourselves, is that God’s Word has been made flesh in the person and work of Christ. When the truth of our predicament, and the frailty of our tentative position is brought to us, we see our need for a Savior. Recognizing, like David in Psalm 12 did, that there is no real personal profit stemming from the world, we see ourselves in true light and take our afflicted, groaning, needy hearts and minds to God’s Word and there we find solace and acceptance from the One who knows all there is to know; and provides all that is necessary. God’s provision through Christ satisfies our longing for meaning and acceptance, Christ meets us at the crossroads of meaning and purpose in a way the world can never accomplish. Ultimately, our sense of personal value comes from how God sees us in Christ and not the words of the world. The gift of Christ and our faith in Him is more valuable than perfectly refined silver. In Christ we participate with meaning, because of the value shown to us by the commitment and promise of Christ. In Him we receive the preservation and acceptance the soul seeks.
And when the slip of the tongue threatens to pull us back into the world’s race, and we fail at maintaining our Christ centered approval, let’s not forget from where we came and rest in the knowledge of what Christ accomplished at the cross. Our personal approval and significance are not found in our ability to perfectly administer our words, nor promote ourselves socially, but in our dependence on a Savior who meets us where we live, lived it perfectly and gave himself so that we would possess a righteousness that is more valuable than refined silver.
When we, like John, sense the futility and frustration stemming from the emptiness of the world’s words and the perpetual need to sell ourselves into significance and acceptance, let’s follow David’s lead and reflect on God’s words that provide truth, purpose and meaning. If it is accurate to say that our chief goal is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever” (Divines, 1978) then we need not struggle with the empty words of the world, but lean into the Word, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Always remembering that He perfected and secured our value eternally through his loving sacrifice. There we will find real peace and meaningful acceptance when we rest and depend on the Word that knows the number of our days and made a path to wholeness in God.