Today’s post is part of our Psalm Saturdays series from guest blogger Robert Chamberlain. You can contact him by sending a message to  bobjc88 @ gmail.com. You can also find him at his new blog at www.roberlain.blogspot.com .

Psalm 12:1–8 (ESV)
1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7 You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

The days we’re living in seem like the days of the Psalmist. Godliness and faithfulness seem nonexistent. Lies and flattery prevail.

The poor are plundered and their oppressors scoff and boast that they seem to be getting away with it. We need God to work His justice to sort us out. God isn’t the God of the arrogant rich but the God of the humble poor. The god of the proud and wealthy is money.

God’s Word is pure. It might shine a light upon the darkness of human hearts, buy that doesn’t make it dark in itself, just realistic about our depravity. Precious silver might make a common stone seem ugly in comparison, but the silver’s not to be blamed for the stone’s ugliness.

Yes, evildoers might strut around like they rule the roost, like some draconian battery chicken farmer. But if we belong to Jesus, He’s our Good Shepherd, and we’re free range.

“This world is evil Lord, so we ask You to preserve and deliver us, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.”

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