Flatter....
Psalm 12:1-8 Help, Lord, for the godly are no more;
the faithful have vanished from among men.
[2] Everyone lies to his neighbour;
their flattering lips speak with deception.
[3] May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue
[4] that says, "We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips—who is our master?"
[5] "Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise," says the Lord.
"I will protect them from those who malign them."
[6] And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.
[7] O Lord, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people for ever.
[8] The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honoured among men.
We use words all the time. We use them to ask for things, to state facts, to hide truths. Sometimes we can say words which hurt or harm and we can do so without having thought much about it – there are may throw away comments that I wish I could take back. And there are words which are calculated to hurt, the remark that we’ve been storing up and rehearsing for days, waiting for just the right time to use. There are word which are meant to deceive, and I wonder if in fact most forms of flattery are that.
Here David contrasts the words of our mouths with the word of God. He calls it flawless. There are no errors, no half truths, nothing hidden in God’s words. When he speaks to us he speaks from his character of perfect justice and love. We can trust his words because we know who he is – and God’s character ensures that he keeps his word. It is like silver, a precious metal. So we too should treasure his words to us and hold them in our heart. They have value to us. There is nothing casual or meaningless about anything that God says. At this time of year I’m reminded of Mary, whom the Bible tells us treasured all that happened to her and her family on that first Christmas night. God’s words are refined and purified. It is a deliberate act to turn ore into precious metal. All the impurities and dross have to be sifted out in order to get the valuable metal at the end. God’s words are deliberate. He never utters a sound that he does not mean. They are thought out and worth hearing because of that.
We ignore a lot of words as worthless chatter, but we need to learn to treasure God’s words.
the faithful have vanished from among men.
[2] Everyone lies to his neighbour;
their flattering lips speak with deception.
[3] May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue
[4] that says, "We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips—who is our master?"
[5] "Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise," says the Lord.
"I will protect them from those who malign them."
[6] And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.
[7] O Lord, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people for ever.
[8] The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honoured among men.
We use words all the time. We use them to ask for things, to state facts, to hide truths. Sometimes we can say words which hurt or harm and we can do so without having thought much about it – there are may throw away comments that I wish I could take back. And there are words which are calculated to hurt, the remark that we’ve been storing up and rehearsing for days, waiting for just the right time to use. There are word which are meant to deceive, and I wonder if in fact most forms of flattery are that.
Here David contrasts the words of our mouths with the word of God. He calls it flawless. There are no errors, no half truths, nothing hidden in God’s words. When he speaks to us he speaks from his character of perfect justice and love. We can trust his words because we know who he is – and God’s character ensures that he keeps his word. It is like silver, a precious metal. So we too should treasure his words to us and hold them in our heart. They have value to us. There is nothing casual or meaningless about anything that God says. At this time of year I’m reminded of Mary, whom the Bible tells us treasured all that happened to her and her family on that first Christmas night. God’s words are refined and purified. It is a deliberate act to turn ore into precious metal. All the impurities and dross have to be sifted out in order to get the valuable metal at the end. God’s words are deliberate. He never utters a sound that he does not mean. They are thought out and worth hearing because of that.
We ignore a lot of words as worthless chatter, but we need to learn to treasure God’s words.
posted by Gordon at
8:24 am
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