Empty Lips (Psalm 12)

STUDY the Psalms

Save, O YHWH, for the faithful are gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

Each man speaks emptiness his friend.
with a smooth lip and a double heart - they speak.

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Who are these men? Who are these women? These people in my life. Who act like my friend. Who say they will be there for me. Who talk behind my back. Who lie to my face. I can tell there is something not right.

Why are these people sucking out my soul. And why do I care what they think? Where have the faithful gone? The חָסִיד, the faithful, the chesed, are gone. The ones who are beloved by YHWH and who loves others like this. They have vanished. And what are we left with?

Lips and tongue. Speech and words. Words create, and tell of their emptiness. They tell of my emptiness. These are the people who surround me. This is who I am afraid I am.  The empty.

We are the hollow men

    We are the stuffed men

    Leaning together

    Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

    Our dried voices, when

    We whisper together

    Are quiet and meaningless

    As wind in dry grass

    Or rats' feet over broken glass

    In our dry cellar (TS Eliot - The Hollow Men)

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May YHWH cut off all smooth-talking lips,
A tongue that speaks great things.

Those who say,
“With our tongue we will prevail,
     our lips are with us;
     who is Lord over us?”

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Those who say… We may prevail. Those who say… Our words are enough. Those who say… there is no one greater. Over the words. That I sometimes dare to speak.

May YHWH expose. May YHWH judge. May YHWH show the truth. Expose the fakers. Stop the lying. No one can talk their way out of the Fear of the Lord. Empty Hollow men.

Cut it off. Make it stop.