Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Psalm 12:1, 6, 8
My life is honestly pretty easy. I live in a safe neighborhood. I have food on my table and no one is trying to steal it. I've got some college students who live near me who pee in their yard and have parties, but when I talk to them, they are receptive enough. My kids aren't in obvious danger in their daily lives.
We are pretty safe.
But I have realized that my experience is an exceptional one in human history - and even in the world today. All I have to do is surf over to CNN or Huffington Post to get updates on all the latest atrocities around the world. If I surf over to the Post Dispatch's website, I can get updates on all the human suffering in my own city (over 500 assaults and 82 sex offenses in St. Louis in the month of May last year).
The general human story is of suffering, corruption, abused power, violence, and people stealing human dignity from other people. The world is driven by an economy of scarcity, where everything, from money to influence to societal value, is a commodity to be fought for and protected from those who might diminish us.
David reflects on this reality at the open and close of the Psalm, like bookends on a macabre collection of hopeless, tragic stories. But buried in the middle of Psalm is a glimmer of hope: God has spoken a promise of redemption and restoration. And his words are like the purest silver ever refined - bright and shiney and real.
God spoke a creative word and the entire universe existed. He spoke a recreative Word in the person of Jesus and the entire universe once again has hope.
Love will triumph. Grace is greater. The promise of God is more powerful than the self-promoting and deceptive words of man. Our hero has spoken a Word of grace, leading to an economy of generosity that will overturn the economy of scarcity like so many tables, driving out the moguls of greed like chaff blowing in the wind.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you that you have spoken a new Word of invitation and love and grace and forgiveness. Thank you that even though my heart is quick to run to self-protection, you do not reject me. You love me and your love calls me out of myself into the greatness of your generous love. Unlock my heart and hands to love in the grand flow of your grace. Let me be free from the prison of the economy of scarcity and enriched instead by the economy of grace.
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