True Crime

People spend hours gathering clues, noting evidence, and hearing interviews from favorite true crime podcasts and documentaries. What draws people to listen to this content that continues to grow in popularity?

Mysteries grab our attention, and we all desire to solve puzzles. It is thrilling to dive into a great escape and try to track down a criminal.

Nancy Drew’s mysteries drew me into sleuthing at an early age. She was fierce, fearless, and willing to do almost anything to crack the case. Years later, I graduated to suspense mysteries from Sue Grafton and DiAnn Mills. Those books can be hard to put down.

Psalm 12 begins with a mystery and a desperate cry for help.

1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. (Psalm 12:1 ESV)

Vanished

The word grabs the reader and catches in the throat. It conjures up the idea of someone being here one minute and gone the next. What is it like to live in a world where all the godly have disappeared?  

They must have been there at one time. The landscape is bleak and dark, and the psalmist feels abandoned.

Deception

2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 
(Psalm 12:2 ESV)

Lies pop up everywhere.  

Can we expect anyone to tell the truth?

Do people owe us the truth?

Is there more deception now than before?

In our current age, the rise of fake news and the conflict it has led to has created trauma for so many. Deception puts us all on edge. In reality, false information has been spread since the dawn of time.

Thousands of years ago, when Jesus rose from the dead, their superiors instructed the Roman soldiers to carry out a fake news campaign to discredit this report.

Here, the psalmist calls attention to some particularities about the lies surrounding him.

Lies between neighbors who should watch out for each other.

Lies from lips that seek to deceive and flatter.

Lies from the “double-hearted” are those who say one thing and do another.

A lie from a stranger is complex, but deception caused by those who live in our community feels particularly painful. Someone who seeks to manipulate us with kind words intended to build us up loses all our trust when the truth is revealed. Someone who tells you one thing directly and then does the opposite leaves you doubting yourself. Did I misunderstand?

A Plea for Justice

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?” (Psalm 12:3-4 ESV)

The psalmist calls out to God for justice.

Words have power. Threatening words, boastful claims, and media campaigns prove to be a force that brings destruction, risks, and danger.

Tongues may appear to prevail, but God will act.  

God’s Protection Program

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.” (Psalm 12:5 ESV)

God responds to injustice, and He answers with a promise. He will place his people in the safety that they long for.

Is that safety found in a physical location? Sometimes, God calls us into His protective presence, where He will refresh us to endure. Other times, He chooses to relocate us to a better place.

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. (Psalm 12:6-7 ESV)

Sometimes, God calls us into His protective presence, where He will refresh us to endure. Sometimes, He chooses to relocate us to a better location. He will guard us either way.

His word, pure and refined, strikes a contrast to the deceptive terms of the world. Spending time in God’s word gives us refuge.

Sin Cycles

8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. 
(Psalm 12:8 ESV)

This final verse of Palm 12 reveals the cyclical nature of sin. It does come back around and around. When society as a whole permits evil to grow, it will. It is much like a weed in our garden reappearing even after it has been rooted out. Only God can permanently eradicate sin through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus.

Someday, God will prevail, and Jesus will rule over the Kingdom, and we will inhabit a new heaven and earth and no longer suffer under the tyranny of evil.

Prayer

 God, your words and promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
 purified seven times. Thank you for the fact that there is no fake news from you. You, O Lord, will keep promises and guard your people forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.