Skip to main content

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.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more