WEDNESDAY 20th
Psalm 12
NIV (v6) – ‘And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.’
ESV (v6) – ‘The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.’
This is our 300th devotion since we started them way back on March 22nd, 2020. And it has brought us to Psalm 12 which we find starts off by talking about the way the ungodly speak, v2, ‘Everyone utters lies to his neighbour; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.’ and verse 3 says ‘the tongue that makes great boasts . . .’ This is so typical of the age in which we are living, where there is much boasting taking place, or there is so much deceit in the hearts of men and women that comes out in the things which they say. David lived in such a day, but he comes to a very clear conclusion and it is this, that although all around are careless with their speech and with their tongues there is one whose words we can trust and rely upon, he says in our text, ‘The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.’
It is good to be reminded of this in our 300th devotion that we can trust fully upon the words of the LORD God, purified seven times, speaks of utter perfection, absolutely flawless and of course it then means totally trustworthy, reliable, and dependable.
We are often told today to be careful about fake news, and warned about scams, we need to discern what we hear and be careful not to be scammed, but when it comes to the word of the God, we need no such warning, it is true, and scam free, in fact instead it exposes the scam and the shame that is within us as we allow it to do its work. (Hebrews 4:12-13 ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’)
A few psalms after our psalm for today, the psalmist says ‘the word of the LORD proves true . . .’ (18:30) and again we read in Proverbs 30:5 ‘Every word of God proves true . . .’ that same chapter in verse 6 also gives a very solemn warning ‘Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.’
We know that there are those who have sought to add to the word of God, or to take away from it, or even to twist it to make it say what they want it to say, we need to treasure it, we need to keep it, remembering that it is an eternal word, it stands not only for time but also eternity. ‘. . . for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’
We will look at this same subject again when we come to Psalm 19, for there the psalmist speaks again of the word of God.