Psalm 12:1-2 : Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;  those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. ² Everyone lies to their neighbor;     they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 

Response :  O Lord teach me to call “Help, Lord.”

Help, Lord. A short but sweet, suggestive, seasonable, and serviceable prayer; a kind of angel’s sword, to be turned every way, and to be used on all occasions. The word rendered “help,” is largely used for all manner of saving, helping, delivering, preserving, etc. Thus it seems that the prayer is very full and instructive. The Psalmist sees the extreme danger of his position, for a man had better be among lions than among liars; he feels his own inability to deal with such sons of Belial, for “he who shall touch them must be fenced with iron;” he therefore turns himself to his all sufficient Helper, the Lord, whose help is never denied to his servants, and whose aid is enough for all their needs. “Help, Lord,” is a very useful ejaculation which we may dart up to heaven on occasions of emergency, whether in labour, learning, suffering, fighting, living, or dying. As small ships can sail into harbours which larger vessels, drawing more water, cannot enter, so our brief cries and short petitions may trade with heaven when our soul is winded  and business bound, when longer exercises of devotion do not come naturally, and when the stream of grace seems at too low an ebb to float a more laborious supplication.

For the godly man ceases; the death, departure, or decline of godly men should be a trumpet call for more prayer. They say that fish smell first at the head, and when godly men decay, the whole commonwealth will soon go rotten. We must not, however, be rash in our judgment on this point, for Elijah erred in counting himself the only servant of God alive, when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve. The present times always appear to be peculiarly dangerous, because they are nearest to our anxious gaze, and whatever evils are rife are sure to be observed, while the faults of past ages are further off, and are more easily overlooked. Yet we expect that in the latter days, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,” and then we must the more thoroughly turn from man, and address ourselves to the Churches’ Lord, by whose help the gates of hell shall be kept from prevailing against us.

The faithful fail from among the children of men; when godliness goes, faithfulness inevitably follows; without fear of God, men have no love of truth. Common honesty is no longer common, when common irreligion leads to universal godlessness.David, amid the general misrule of his time, did not involve himself to seditious plottings, but to solemn petitionings; nor did he join with the multitude to do evil, but took up the arms of prayer to withstand their attacks upon virtue.

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour. They utter that which is vain to hear, because of its frivolous, foolish, want of worth; vain to believe, because it was false and lying; vain to trust to, since it was deceitful and flattering; vain to regard, for it lifted up the hearer, filling him with proud conceit of himself. It is a sad thing when it is the fashion to talk vanity. “Call me, and I will call thee.” is the old Scotch proverb; give me a high sounding character, and I will give you one. Compliments and fawning congratulations are hateful to honest men; they know that if they take they must give them, and they scorn to do either. These accommodation bills are most admired by those who are bankrupt in character. Bad are the times when every man thus cajoles and cozens his neighbour.

With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. He who puffs up another’s heart, has nothing better than wind in his own. If a man extols me to my face, he only shows me one side of his heart, and the other is black with contempt for me, or foul with intent to cheat me. Flattery is the sign of the tavern where duplicity is the host. The Chinese consider a man of two hearts to be a very base man, and we shall be safe in reckoning all flatteries to be such. With a double heart. Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and in regard to others. He does not wish that he should be told the truth, he shuns saying it to others; and all these moods, so inconsistent with justice and reason, have their roots in his heart.

O Lord, please help when I call in desperation and in an emergency as I have no other help. Lord keep from the evils of these times when truth no longer abounds but lies and flatteries. Please give me the wisdom and discernment to know the truth and to live in truth. Help me repel lies and with your help not fall for or into them. Keep me from lying lips as I do not want to bow to the father of lies. Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true. There’s a race that I must run, there are victories to be won. Give me power, every hour to be true. Thank You Jesus for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen.