January 19, 2009
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Psalm 12
Psalms 12:1-8 KJV <To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.> Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. (2) They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. (3) The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: (4) Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? (5) For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. (6) The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. (7) Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. (8) The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
This is a lament over how we are surrounded with evil.
The wicked speak lies and try to use flattering words to get something in return. We need to be open and speak the truth.
According to Proverbs chapter 6, a lying tongue is an abomination to Adonai. The wicked are feeling that they can do anything, achieve whatever they want by using flattering words. There are a lot of smooth talkers out there that can sell you the shirt off your own back, but they will not be able to talk their way out of Hell!
G-d promises to take care of the righteous.
David says that G-d’s Words are pure and shall be preserved forever. When we feel overwhelmed by wickedness around us, we need to cling to G-d.
We tend to exalt wickedness today and as we do, wickedness runs rampant.
Prior to 1965, television shows portrayed businessmen as good guys twice as often as bad guys, as Michael Medved shows in Hollywood vs America. In the 1970s, this ratio was reversed; two villains for every good guy. Today, big business has become television’s favorite villain. Medved quotes an exhaustive analysis of prime time television by the sociologists Richter, Richter and Rothman which concludes, “By 1980 a majority of the CEO’s portrayed on prime time committed felonies.” Respectable businessmen were by then committing 40 percent of the murders on prime time television, and 44 percent of vice crimes like drug trafficking and pimping.
– Michael Medved, Hollywood vs America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (New York, Harper Collins, 1993).We live in a strange society where we make documentaries of serial killers, movie idols out of organized crime members, authors out of political crooks, and role models out of criminals who beat the system. … I don’t know when crime went from being news to entertainment, but somehow it’s made the transition.
– Erma Bombeck.Shalom
Comments (4)
I do not have a TV hookup ,but I bought the Walton’s and Little House for the kids to watch when they come.For this very reason.
No TV here either. Not even cable. We are VERY selective on what DVD to buy. We have a few that we will watch only after children are in bed but they could watch once they are mature enough. Latest DVD oldest are watching is “Howdy Doody”! (whispering- I even am not 100% sure of that show, do you have good opinion about this ancient TV show beside quality?)
That last quote is so very true.
I have to agree that there are many smooth talkers out there, and that we have to be wary of them. My soon-to-be-ex was one of them. I hesitate to call him evil, but I always told him he’d make an excellent lawyer because, even when you KNOW you’re right about something, he can make you doubt yourself. Now I know that he lies with every breath. Whatever sounds good at the moment to say, he says. Whatever feels good to do, he does. And the last quote is true. Even true for myself. I gravitate toward the law shows and the crime shows. I write…and I write about someone overcoming adversity…I think that’s why I like those shows though. Or those books. Not because they are gory and horrific but because I love to see the good guy win in the end. I love to see someone shining through adversity, despite horrible things happening. Because that’s life.