"Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. 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: 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. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 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." (Psalms 12:1-8)

          David begins Psalm Twelve with the lament, "Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." The concern of David was that he did not see the righteous remnant. He wondered where the righteous had gone. In Micah 7:2 the same idea is expressed, "The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net." In our day is the number of righteous in comparison to the wicked diminishing? Isaiah wrote of the wicked in his day saying, "Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness." (Isaiah 59:7-9) David felt that the godly man had ceased when he heard how people were talking. We are saddened today as we observe a lack of godliness all around us, especially in the speech of people. God has never overlooked wickedness so He promised to arise and help. David knew God would keep His word to punish the wicked. His word is like silver tried in the fire. We can wait on God with confidence and we can depend on His word. The words of the Lord are pure as well refined silver.

          Concerned over evil all around -- Psalm 12:1-4: The little prayer “Help, Lord" is a very powerful prayer in the times when we are trying to learn to do right, when we are suffering or when we are dying. David lamented the decline in number of godly men. When the godly decrease in number nations stink worse and worse. Without the fear of God, men have no love of truth, no respect for fellow man and their speech is contemptible. God is then neglected in prayer and worship. However, let us never be overly gloomy about things. God is still in control even though society has deteriorated. Remember, Jesus promised concerning His church that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

          The Lord will arise and help the righteous -- Psalm 12:5-7: The Lord sees wrong and takes action. Here God promised to do something. The poor, mistreated and helpless people moaned and God promised to rescue those that were suffering. God acts on His own time schedule and not on ours. Often this makes us think that God is doing nothing. God promised to arise and lessen the burdens of the oppressed. God's word can be depended upon. His word is like silver heated seven times in a fiery furnace. His word is pure and dependable. As we live this life both the righteous and the wicked suffer troubles. The difference is that God is with the righteous in their suffering. God's word is pure and tried. We can depend both upon the infallible certainty of God's word and upon the exact purity of it. It should be our daily prayer that we may rise above the evil of our age and walk with God.

          A look at an ungodly society -- Psalm 12:8: What can you expect in a godless society? You can expect the wicked to continue flaunting their evil deeds before society. You can also expect many people to praise their shameless deeds. It is sad that there are sinners in a society. It is much more so sad that many praise their ungodly actions. It is tragic that even in our society, "the vilest men are exalted." The rich and famous are exalted, while the poor and humble Christians are scorned. The wicked freely strut down Main Street, while those that stand for right are disdained. The wicked are neither afraid nor ashamed to make their sins known openly. Let us pray and hope things will be better in due time. May we have the strength to honor God and value the things that He values. Let us rejoice that God's words are pure and can be trusted. Instead of practicing wickedness let us glorify God in our lives.