SOMETIMES WE ARE GOVERNED by a heavy heart, not from the events of a particular day, but from the events of a string of days stretching back seemingly endlessly to the beginning of the conscious mind of an entire generation. Each generation has its challenges, carries its burdens, and, for good or ill, or both, leaves its legacy. Each generation begins in innocence, wakens to an ideology of hope and mission, starts with enough energy to run towards that envisioned golden future, slows to the walk of what is possible, and ends on a walker with creaky wheels, wondering what happened. It seems rare indeed that one would be born at the right time to enter a generation on an upswing to a golden age, and to take the ride of life timed to the zenith, and then step into eternity leaving behind the applause and cheers of the next generation(s).
On this note, let us begin an examination of Psalm 12 with the last verse first: “The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.” (Psa. 12:8) Well into the twenty-first century, our generation in power, world-wide, is poised at a point of a disastrous epoch change; all who follow will take a sudden new way. All have been led to this dire time by the self-entitled first-world seekers of hedonistic pleasures, one downward step at a time, one decade after another. Despite the cries of the previous generation, the sneered-at warnings about slippery slopes and precipitous falls, we pressed on through moral turpitude in the sheer plunge towards self-expression without boundaries or perceived consequences.
Not you, of course, or me. We were busy working and raising families, sorting through our humdrum problems of life at any given age, making a mistake or two but pressing on. And somehow, while we were busy with these things, the world changed around us. And, shockingly and too late, the ‘slippery-slope’ warnings proved to be true, and we have been rudely awakened to a culture that seems to have risen almost overnight to bow in homage in broad daylight to what is vile.
Perhaps you think this is too draconian a view, but a clear-eyed interpretation of the daily news cautions against any view except this. America, the world’s premier superpower and champion of freedom and democracy in her time, has had her bastions of higher learning taken over long ago by revolutionaries bent on raising a wide-spread new generation of radicals bent on destroying the status quo, and they have achieved their goal(s) in many ways. Cities are burning, citizens are dying, and the agents of law and order have been handcuffed by those same fiery-eyed revolutionaries infiltrating and taking over the legal systems, from local courts to those who have become lawmakers in the house and senate of the Federal government. Forces in those institutions have steadily devalued the work ethic of our middle class, and have created an entitlement mindset that now spans generations—the net effect of which is that the nation now owes more than its gross domestic product. In other words, America is bankrupt. But this is only a bankruptcy of currency. There is worse.
And so, we return to the psalm. “Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.” (Psa. 12:1-2) From product advertisement to political promises to the offers of free gifts, free memberships, easy credit as a way to the realization of dreams to job resumes to… well, to truly everything, everyone lies to their neighbor. The O.T. tells us, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.” (Pro. 12:22) Paul says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col. 3:9-10) And so we pray, with the Psalmist, “May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips—who is our master?” (Psa. 12:3-4)
Father, we cry out for relief. There is no one else to help us but you. The voice of the church is not silent, Father, but it has no power. We confess that we have become too much like the world, Father, and so we stand and say, in Peter’s words, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17) And Father, if you will but purge us, can you also humble us, so we can then pray “if my people, who are called by my name?” (2 Chron. 7:14) Or Father, is it too late already, and all we can expect is that the “foreigner will become the head, and we shall become the tail?” (Deut. 28:43)
Father, our hearts desperately desire to hear these words from you: “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” (Psa. 12:5) For we know, Father, if you speak them, they are true and they will come to pass. We believe this of you Father: “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.” (Psa. 12:6) And we cling to that hope, Father. When we look at the world around us, we become anxious. We become anxious for the ones we love, we become anxious for our way of life , and we become anxious for our peace of mind, our very sanity, and we are tempted to think there is no solution. But we stop, and pause, and remember that in Jesus you have saved us, and given us a way out and up. “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor. 10:13) And so, with the Psalmist, may he be forever remembered and blessed, we find comfort in you, and we pray, “O Lord, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.” (Psa. 12:7)
Father, help us to leave a legacy for our loved ones, for those who come behind, that is positive and encouraging, no matter what. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we do know who created our days, our years, and our eternity. Whether or not this be the time that the last Book speaks of, then let us be people of “patient endurance.” (Rev. 1:9) Above all, let us be those who maintain “faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13)
Q. What legacy will I leave, and how can I begin that now?
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