Psalm 12 - Lies & Violence!!!
Lies go together with violence…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Russian dissident and author, who had been imprisoned for his anti-communist stance once said…
“Let us not forget that violence does not and cannot exist by itself; it is invariably intertwined with the lie. They are linked in the most intimate, most organic and profound fashion: violence cannot conceal itself behind anything except lies, and lies have nothing to maintain them save violence. Anyone who has once proclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose the lie as his principle.”
This concept is as true today as it was in the time of King David. As king of the Kingdom of Israel and as a mighty warrior, David saw and experienced his fair share of violence and the deception that came with that violence. His first taste of that was when Goliath was shouting vile lies against the God of Israel and the people of Israel, and the Philistines were threatening to destroy the nation of Israel.
Sounds like nothing has changed.
At the time of the writing of this article (13th Oct 2023), it has been a week since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel. The war started when around 2000 Hamas terrorist militants (and young civilian Palestinian males) invaded Israeli territory from Gaza, and at the same time fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Over a period of several days, 1200 Israeli’s will have been murdered in their homes and towns, and a further 3000 or so have been injured (many critically). Between 100 and 150 more have been kidnapped and taken to Gaza. During the following week isolated attacks occurred, with further deaths, injury and destruction following in their wake. This occurs almost to the day of a surprise attack on Israel by Arabic nations to start the Yom Kippur War in 1973 - and the Israeli’s were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles which ended on a holy Sabbath day.
King David would have been all too familiar with this…he even wrote about it in a psalm…Psalm 12.
Psalm 12 says…
Verse 1: “Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!”
Oh! how this is true today. Those who are actually walking in a righteous and godly manner are few and far between - be they Christians or unbelievers.
Those who are faithful to the wisdom and truth that is held within the biblical scriptures are decreasing with each day. Churches and church leadership espouse ungodly values from the pulpit, Christians live as the world does and are often indistinguishable from the unbelievers.
David’s cry is also our cry. The world is falling apart because of this fact and it should sadden us greatly.
In relation to the current and ongoing events in Israel today, the butchering of people, including infant babies in their cribs is some of the most vile, demonically inspired, ungodly actions to happen. Ungodly acts are done by ungodly people.
Verse 2: “Neighbours lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.”
Another pertinent verse from David that we can identify with. In today’s social media soak world that we live in, lies abound, fake news abounds, propaganda is rife - and people speak to each other with deceitful lips.
This is why as Christians who reflect Christ to the world we should be living in a way that is holy, righteous and godly - then we are reflecting the light and love of Christ.
If we are mirroring the ways of the world then we are merely the evil and darkness of Satan who is the prince of this world.
In the last couple of years, Israel (in an effort to extend an arm of peace) was allowing increasing numbers of residents fo Gaza to work within Israel. It has been officially reported that many of those who did so were conducting spy and reconnaissance actions for Hamas in relation to the current attack. Employees questioned employers and co-workers about goings on during the upcoming Feast of Tabernacle celebrations, including events and whereabouts of people on the day of the attack.
Lies and deceit followed by violence…both King David and Solzhenitsyn were correct.
Verse 3: “May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues.”
Boasting and prideful words abound in today’s society more-so than in past generations due to social media. Psychologists have stated that narcissistic behaviours are on the increase because of the use and effects of social media on the global population.
In the current conflict in Israel, Hamas is filming their atrocities and posting it on all of the social media platforms and lauding it as a victory for them. They are quite literally boasting of beheading infants, and raping women, and wiping out whole families.
Our prayer should be the same as King David… “May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues”
Verse 4: “They say, ‘We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
The words found in this verse echo the words of the ungodly and the demonic. Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and it shouldn’t be a surprise when those who are ungodly lie and place high value on their ability to lie.
Pride is the basis of lying. The view that you are above the truth and can say whatever you want without the thought to the impact of those things, or that there may even be consequences…is pure pride.
The Hamas terrorists that rampaged their way through the southern towns and villages of Israel were full of satanic pride. This pride has been exhibited by many of the Hamas leaders appearing in the media saying that they have not killed or abducted any civilians - despite the footage from their own phones and devices showing the contrary.
Verse 5: “The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.”
God hears our cries, and sees the troubles we experience - especially when others are doing violence and lying against us.
God will hear the prayers of those Israeli’s around the world, and the Christians who are praying for them. And he WILL act!!!
There are a multitude of scriptures that speak of God protecting, defending the people of Israel and that is the same now as the day those words were written.
We need to pray for Israel, and we need to pray for the innocent in Gaza who are trapped by a vile, wicked Hamas regime, who hides behind women and children.
Verse: 6: “The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.”
God promises to protect us, provide for us, and deliver us. God is not a man that he should lie - Numbers 23:19.
God has given a promise to the nation and peoples of Israel. That promise still stands today…and it will happen and be fulfilled in their coming to believe in Jesus as their Messiah.
In this perilous time that Israel faces, they should hold close to the promises of God found in the Old testament.
Verse 7: “Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation…”
This cry is our cry. Not only for the people in Israel, but also for ourselves and for our communities. There is much evil in this world we live in, there is an increasing amount of oppression by governments, corporations, by communities, and by other groups. Our cry should be that we hold close to the faith and hope that God will intervene in our world and act against the evildoers.
Verse 8: “…even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.”
This verse directly links with the previous verse. The hope and faith exhibited in the words fo the previous verse in still shown despite the fact of this verse.
“Even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land”….we will still believe that God will act and protect us. And it is my hope that the Israeli peoples (be they Jewish, Arabic or Druze) hold onto this hope.
I pray peace upon Israel and Gaza, and that the innocent people who inhabit these lands. I also pray that God’s justice is active in this situation, may those who have committed these vile acts feel the wrath of God, just as David did in this psalm.