The Promises of God Are Pure
This meditation is based on a passage for February 1, 2011 in the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).
Text: Psalm 12
Reflection and Question: I take some consolation from this Psalm that people have not changed much in the millennia since this was first sung in the Temple. Despair at the lack of faith and integrity was as rampant then as now. That desperation turned violent as expressed in the Psalmist’s desire for retribution. We do the same. God is the same now. God is still defending the poor and needy by promising to carry them to safety. But the poet’s place with those groaning is clear while our place with them is not. With whom should we identify in the psalm — the Godly or the wicked? Why?
Silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
You, O Lord, will protect us; you will guard us from this generation for ever.
On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among humankind.
Amen.
