Right now is a time of incredible economic turmoil around the world. Many Americans working full-time jobs are spending almost half their income on housing and struggling to afford basic groceries. Millions of Americans are foregoing vital medical treatment because they cannot afford healthcare. And, beyond our borders, millions of people around the world are watching their children cry from hunger because they cannot afford to feed them. The global economic system upon which people depend is failing to provide the security it promised in these difficult times. So where do we turn when those things we trusted in for security can no longer provide for us?
Psalm 12:5 (CSB) — 5 “Because of the devastation of the needy and the groaning of the poor, I will now rise up,” says the Lord. “I will provide safety for the one who longs for it.”
This psalm begins abruptly with a cry for help, “Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains,”and then goes on to reveal the reason for the outcry: on the one hand, good people seem to have disappeared from the land, while on the other hand, the wicked are rampant. It had become impossible to discern the existence of “faithful people” anymore. Yet, in contrast, if honest people could no longer be found, the wicked and treacherous were everywhere! Their speech is described as coming from “flattering lips and a double heart” (Psalm 12:2. NRSV). They speak comforting words, but give no help, so the people are left empty and without help. They abandon the truth and use deception to get what they want, so the afflicted get no justice. So the devastation of the needy comes from the wicked, who lie, flatter, deceive, and make grand boasts to strip the land bare and leave the people without justice.
“Because of the devastation of the needy and the groaning of the poor”: The word for “devastation” describes the needy as being recipients and victims (The NET Bible First Edition Notes. Ps 12:5). The terrifying reality out of which this Psalm arises is one where the powerful were callously crushing the vulnerable, whose suffering produced a terrible groaning, which is an expression used elsewhere of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20), of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15), and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).
Today we hear the sorrowful groaning rising from the poor and vulnerable because of what wealthy and powerful people are doing in the world. Leaders who promised peace are waging wars that are inflicting hunger, hardship, and scarcity across the world. We are promised relief but no help ever comes. The homeless and sick have their assistance cut in “efficiency measures” so that the powerful can build monuments, ballrooms, and wage wars. The landowners raise rent on tenants who can barely buy food. And the ones promising relief to the poor and vulnerable never intend to offer any real help after they take power.
“I will now rise up”: The response to the suffering of the poor and vulnerable is personal on God’s behalf. There’s no hint of apathy or cavalier concession towards their plight. God himself is roused! God hears the cry of the poor (Psalm 34:6) and acts to rescue the poor from those who are too strong for them (Psalm 35:10). God faithfully executes justice on behalf of those who are exploited (Psalm 146:6-7). God promises to provide safety for those who long for relief.
God is positioned in this verse as the contrast to the devastation inflicted upon the weak by the wicked. He now becomes their terror! God makes a commitment to act to deliver those being crushed by the wicked. And, whereas the words of the wicked cannot be trusted, which is part of what increases the suffering of the helpless in this psalm, God’s words are pure and survive being tested in the furnace of our fiery trials.
However, there is something even more precious residing under the surface of this verse. In rising up himself, God’s promise to protect the afflicted goes beyond the difficulties that this world brings.
Saint Augustine wrote:
This … should be taken as spoken in the person of God the Father who deigned to send his Son for the sake of the poor and needy …
Bell, J. S., ed. (2019). Ancient Faith Study Bible (p. 628). Holman Bibles.
God did, indeed, arise himself to deliver the poor and afflicted. He took on flesh to seek the lost. He bore the affliction due our sins in his own body and was sacrificed upon the cross as the ultimate declaration of God’s love to win victory over the grave on our behalf. What we were powerless to do on our own, God did by sending his own son. Now we will be delivered from the oppressors of this world and receive an eternal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells!
Today’s Application
I wrote this lesson because my family, like so many others, is struggling to pay rent, buy groceries, and take care of our basic needs because of what wicked leaders are doing in this world today. But yet, everywhere I look — even in the Church — I only see flattery and a double-heart from people who would use our desperation for their own gain or to advance their own agenda. Indeed, many of those promising relief are only looking to gain power for themselves; they do not have the suffering of the poor in mind. So they flatter and deceive to get what they want. Yet I do not believe this is the end of the story!
Listen to the blessings and woes of Jesus:
Luke 6:20–26 (CSB) — 20 Then looking up at his disciples, he said: Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours. 21 Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Take note — your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets. 24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets.
I want to strengthen those who are going through what we’re going through with the hope of the gospel. I want to help protect the faith of those who are being devastated by this economy by helping you to stand on the rock of Jesus’ word. Don’t put your trust in the empty promises and flattering words of leaders who would deceive you to gain power for themselves. Don’t rest the pillars of your hope on the sand of the powers of this age. Instead, turn your hearts fully to the hope that is set to come when Jesus returns. Look fully and only to the provisions of your heavenly Father, for they are pure and good, and come with no grief or sorrow!
Jesus secures so many great and precious promises for the poor! First, by the unsearchable richness of God’s love, we are his children (1 John 3:1) and he is our Father (Romans 8:9). We are not alone or set at distance from him! Therefore, God is intimately acquainted with our needs (Matthew 6:32) and lovingly provides for us (Matthew 7:11). This is why, in our times of greatest need, we must put our hope in God, as Paul describes, saying “the widow who is truly in need and left all alone has put her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers” (1 Timothy 5:5). We must entrust our anxieties to God in prayer and, as Jesus taught, “not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:31) because we know that God is our provider and sustains our life. Instead, we must “seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), knowing that he will take care of our needs in this life, and “store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). God must become our only confidence and hope in this life.
I have seen God provide for his children who are homeless. I have seen God provide for my family. I have seen God provide for the sick. And I have seen first-hand God provide for people fleeing from violent persecution. What’s happening now may be beyond my ability to explain, but it’s not outside the sovereign purview of God. The rich may raise our rent while they accumulate record profits, and our leaders may build ballrooms while taking relief money from the poor to fight their senseless wars, but I will share a simple bowl of soup with another who is hungry, and the gospel word of encouragement with the one who is poor in spirit! I will seek first the Kingdom of God!
A Dedicated Faith 