The Cessation of Godliness

Look at Psalm 12:1 – 2.  The David’s despair is deep.  Why?  His perception is that godliness, godly men have ceased in his domain.  Then he describes what godless men look like:

• They speak falsehood to one another – the word “falsehood” could and is translated emptiness, vanity, and deceit, in other places.  Think of that.  I have a picture of a person on a stage speaking to a crowd, his lips are moving, but there is no sound coming out of his mouth, emptiness.  Frankly, there have been speakers I have heard, well, that would have been an improvement.
• They speak with flattering lips – they speak to manipulate, to get what they want, to make people like them, or to get a result that they think is important.  Another, example of emptiness.
• They speak with a double heart – they speak with a lack of integrity.  What they are saying does not align with what they believe.  They speak to look better than they are.  They speak to deceive.

I read through this and I tremble.  I do not want to be like this in any shape or form.  I do not want to talk to my wife in this manner, my kids, my friends.  It reinforces the thoughts I had about needing a mouth guard a couple of days ago.

Lord deliver me from this.