Help, Lord!

Psalm 12:1
Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Boy, oh, boy! What an awful picture is this verse. I take the Bible literally, because of this it helps me to close my eyes and paint a visual picture of the scene. I see a very weather haggard man. He is crawling toward his prayer closet. He has been in the battle for a long time. The war has taken a heavy toll on him. He has experienced many victories, and has had his share of defeats.

The writer has been faithful! He surveys the carnage of the most recent battle. He mourns the loss of fallen comrade's, some fell by the sword, some were wounded and evacuated to the rear, But the sting of betrayal of some close fellow soldier that willingly went A.W.O.L., abandoning the oath they swore is the most painful.

Notice the progression of the words of this Psalm:

Help, Lord:

It has been said that it is lonely at the top! A real leader does not have many friends because he must make decisions that may change the destiny of the subordinates. When a leader has his most trusted leadership and fellow soldiers "jump ship" It devastates him. He is wise to turn toward God. The writer pours out one of the most effective prayers a mortal can ever utter when he says; Help Lord!

For the godly man ceaseth:

When a Soldier faces Uniformed Code of Military Justus (UCMJ) charges, he is presented with the damning charges against him. There is a narrative for the administrator or judge to review. The accusation is read aloud and the defendant is put on notice of the offense.

The chilling first charge is but five words long. These words are very disturbing! They speak of the soldier as a trader. The Soldier is faced with a fact that says he quit! No notice, no thought of the consequences of his actions on fellow soldiers. The gap he has left allowed the enemy to infiltrate and the battle was compromised and loss was realized by the organization as a whole.

If a godly man can quit, will I quit too? The sting in this action is that I am just as susceptible to doing the very thing that I find so distasteful in my fellow soldier. I wonder out loud, have I ceased when another needed me most?

For the faithful fail from among the children of men.

The second UCMJ charge is just as disturbing. It spells out the breakdown of the master plan. The A.W.O.L. soldier left a gap that has repercussions on the whole world. This is a serious charge that many Christians are guilty of in subtle ways.

This Soldier let down in his witness of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he stopped or never started to tell others of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Commander in Chief., many will go to hell because of this outright failure to do the most basic duty. The Lord wants to save every human, even our enemies. When we fail to be active in the Lords work (soul winning) we are just as guilty as our defendant.

No wonder that our Christian leader is down trodden! I hope you never see me in the place of this accusation!

I, like our writer can only cry out "Help, Lord!"