Help me, Lord[1]
1Help me, Lord, for no-one godly is left; the faithful have vanished from the whole human race. 2They all speak falsely with their neighbour; they flatter with lips, but speak from a double heart. 3O that the Lord would cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud boasts! 4Those who say, ‘With our tongue will we prevail; our lips we will use; who is lord over us?’ 5‘Because of the oppression of the needy, and he groaning of the poor, I will rise up now,’ says the Lord, ‘and set them in the safety that they long for.’ 6The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in the furnace and purified seven times in the fire. 7You, O Lord, will watch over us and guard us from this generation for ever. 8The wicked strut on every side when what is vile is exalted by the whole human race.
‘Help me, Lord!' Probably the three most important words anyone of us will utter in our lives. Psalm 12 opens with powerful messaging. We are all used to the two or three-word slogans on the Prime Minister's podium aren't we. Well the psalmist knows how to hammer home a message too.
Ask any poet, and they will you they use words with great care and sparseness – weighing every one of them in order to help the hearer (or reader) enter with imagination and emotion into the world that the words are creating.
Today’s psalm focuses in on the power of words and the danger of the unbridled tongue of the ‘double-hearted’ – or two-faced – person. They are placed in direct contrast with the truthfulness of God who watches over those who have no voice. God’s words are pure words (vs6), or ‘flawless’ (NIV), purified like silver.
The articulate, the able speakers, those who can flatter with falseness and achieve all they can with the power of speech, these are the ones targeted by Psalm 12. It seems that the prayer-maker has identified a whole raft of acquaintances who deny the Lordship of God and are content that, by the power of speech, they can prevail in all situations. In this psalm the faithful individual (or community) seems to be alone in the world and everyone else seems to be accountable to no-one. Again, the psalmist suggests that it is the faithful who are helpless and no voice while those who hog the microphones of the culture have no compunction to speak truth.
It all feels bleak, doesn’t it? In the psalmist’s world, the powerful, who control the media and have a voice in high places, seem to be undefeated and in total control. They expect no response from God.
So where is the good news in this psalm? It is found in the fifth verse, which is the focal point of the whole poem. Yet again, the psalmist is utterly convinced and confident that the cry of the voiceless is heard by God, even if it is not attended to by the word-rich and powerful. God does not give ear to the words of the powerful or the propaganda of the culture-setters. God only responds (‘rises up’) when he hears ‘oppression of the needy and the groaning of the poor’. God helps those who can not help themselves! This is the good news. God comes to the aid of the underdog and sets them in the place of safety ‘that they long for’. This fifth verse is the focal point of the whole psalm.
What does this mean for us today. Well we need to weigh the words of others, especially those in authority over us, with great care – like a poet. Yes, of course we need to take heed of the words of warning and advice of the Government and the public health specialists. We all know the mantra: ‘Stay home: Protect the NHS: Save lives’. It is effective messaging. And it is essential.
But the most effective messaging, for me, today, is not from the mouth of the PR machine of Downing Street but from the psalmist speaking to me from maybe 2,500 years ago: 'Help me, Lord.' Three words of power for all of us to articulate.
In a rather beautiful prayer fashioned to succinctly sum up Psalm 12 in Common Worship: Daily Prayer, the Church of England’s prayer book for each day, we are encouraged to seek God’s word ‘of power and purity’ to restore us all. I end with the prayer:
Lord, when faith is
faint
and speech veils our
intentions,
restore us by your word
of power and purity,
both now and for ever.
Amen.
As we enter Passiontide the prayer “help me” reminds me of what the crowds said on Palm Sunday “Hosanna: save us”. Our need for help is both an individual experience and a community one. We need God’s all embracing love to hold us and keep us, or as we pray in Compline “Guide us while waking and guard us while sleeping”. There is no time of day or night when we cannot cry out to God for help. Feeling vulnerable and fearful is a common human experience. None of us are immune for the need for help and in these challenging days more are willing to admit it, ask for help and receive it from family and neighbours and even through the kindness of strangers. “Help me. I need some shopping”. “Help me. I feel lost”. “Help me. I’m really anxious”. “Help me. I don’t know how to use Zoom”.
ReplyDeleteIn just a few words we open ourselves up to being vulnerable and to being open to receive grace and love. The psalms show us the way to honest prayer.
And Jesus who is the Word of God is the one who embodies truth and love and who brings us the help and salvation we need.