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Who Are The Poor And Needy?

 

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue— those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”

 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times. You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race. (Psalm 12)

 

This psalm continues the two-handedness of psalm 11. The faithful are no more, everyone is wicked, but God promises to arise and protect … but who will He protect? If no one is faithful and the loyal have vanished; if everyone lies, flatters, and harbors deception in their hearts; when what is vile is honored by the human race, who is left to protect? The psalmist writes of the poor and the needy, but aren’t they part of the “no one,” “everyone,” and “human race”?

This reminds me of Elijah’s lament that he was the only prophet of God left. Things often seem much bleaker than they are. But the problem is that the psalmist is right. Of ourselves, there is none faithful, none loyal, none honest, none who do not flatter or boast. And at the same time, because of this, we are all desperately needy. The wicked and wayward and the poor and needy are one and the same. Sometimes, when God rises up to protect the poor and needy from those who malign them, it is from themselves that they must be protected.

That lead to another thought. Could it be that the pour and needy God’s arises to protect are the unfaithful, disloyal, flattering, boasting, lying folks who used to strut around, but have finally recognized their poverty? Could it be that the first person God arises to protect us from is ourselves? I’ve heard that the only way for a drowning person to be rescued is if they stop struggling. Could that be what God waits for before He rises to protect them? For us to recognize that for all our bluster and arrogance, we‘re the one maligning us? I can see that. It’s as Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

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