Dear Judah,
Happy birthday #4 my youngest grand!
So in my 50 years as a believer in Jesus I have read through the Bible many times. And some specific books are ones that I come back to often. Psalms is one of those. And yet as I was reading Psalm 12 a few days ago I came across some verses that caught my attention – verses I don’t remember ever seeing before.
This is one of the cool things about the Bible. No matter how many times you have read it there is always a fresh word from God if we are looking for it and listening closely.
Here are the verses I came across:
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.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
A few comments…
The very last line walloped me – “as vileness is exalted among the children of men.” Unfortunately you will grow up at a time where this is very true. Apparently it was very true 3000 years ago when King David lived but it sure does seem like it has gotten exponentially worse. Perhaps this is because of the internet age that we live in. But in my lifetime I have watched the exaltation of vileness take on more and more perverse expressions. Even as a believer who tries to avoid it, it is almost unavoidable unless I decide to live a monkish life. I point this out to encourage you to ALWAYS be on your guard and to fight against this by exalting God in all things even as the world around you is exalting vileness.
The other comment I will make is about the first line – “The words of the Lord are pure words...” Unfortunately you will also grow up at a time when lying is commonplace, fake news is passed off as truth, and AI has made it almost impossible to know what to believe and what not to believe. But this much is indeed true – The words of the Lord are pure words! One of the words I am “famous” for around our church is the word ponder. I encourage our people to ponder the Word. And if you learn nothing else from me I hope that you will learn the value of pondering Scripture – because the words of the Lord are pure words. In a world saturated with vileness, the Word of God is a refuge of truth and purity.
I have no doubt that your 5th year on earth will be a year of much growth and exploration and adventuring. Have a super bodacious birthday and…
Never forget that you are very loved!
Pop Pop
What a message, and ‘promise’. Thanks for speaking to my heart today.