Psalm 12

1 Help, LORD, for the godly are no more;
the faithful have vanished from among men.

2 Everyone lies to his neighbor;
their flattering lips speak with deception.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue

4 that says, "We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips — who is our master?"

5 "Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise," says the LORD.
"I will protect them from those who malign them."

6 And the words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.

7 O LORD, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people forever.

8 The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honored among men.

The first thing that I thought of as I read this psalm was how destructive our tongues can be.

According to the psalmist, the tongue can be used to
1. speak lies to people (verse 1a)
2. flatter people whom we want to please (verse 1b)
3. boast about ourselves (verse 2)

Some of us really abuse the usage of our tongues. We even deny the fact that whatever we said has to be acceptable before God. We insist our tongues are our own, they don't belong to God (verse 4). We can say whatever we want, whenever we want.

No wonder in James 3:8, it is said that "no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

As I think about my own behavior, even after I had become a Christian, there were so many times that my tongue wasn't used to build up others. Instead, sometimes, it became an instrument whereby I used it to vent my frustrations on others; sometimes, it became an instrument of gossip; sometimes, it became an instrument of boasting.

I know that God is dealing with me in this area. Of course, now I'm slightly better off than last time, but I still have a long way to go in terms of taming my tongue.



Another thought that came to mind as I meditate on Psalm 12 is that in life, we will surely face people who will bad-mouth us and speak lies about us. God's promise to us is that He will protect us from such people (verse 7).


Things to ponder
1. On a scale of 1 (means really bad) to 10 (means really good), how do you think God will rate you in terms of using your tongue (speaking words)? Why?
2. What is one thing (for example, speaking lies, flattering people so that you get what you want. boasting about yourself, gossiping) that you do with your tongue that displeases the Lord?
3. Confess and repent before the Lord in this area. Pray 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."


Dear Heavenly Father, I ask for Your forgiveness. There has been many times that I abused the gift of speaking which you had blessed me with. Lord, sometimes I had gossipped about my students; sometimes I had scolded others in anger; sometimes I had boasted about myself and not You. Father, I really want to change. I want to encourage and build others up with my words. Help me change, Father, for I know it is impossible to do it without You. I pray all this, in Jesus' name. Amen!

Click here for Pastor YC's Reflection on Psalm 12