(Adapted from an
article that appeared in “Scripture Truth”, Nov.-Dec., 1960)
Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the
children of men.” (Ps. 12:1)
If the Psalmist allowed this cry to escape from
his lips, how much more urgent and necessary is the cry in our day. Where indeed
are the gifted men of God, that were serving the Lord a century or so ago? How
well we could do with them today; and how we suffer for the lack of such in our
midst.
The Psalmist, however, is not concerned with
gifts, much as they are to be valued and appreciated, but with godly and
faithful men. We may not be gifted as others, but what about godliness and
faithfulness? These things are within the reach of the poorest and humblest of
Christian men and women.
1. “The godly man ceaseth.” His generation seems
almost to have disappeared in this our day. Where are those godly brethren and
sisters, whom some of us, who are older, remember or at least heard about in our
youth? They have gone and their replacement is hard to find. They seem almost to
have ceased. Help, Lord! Raise up more of Thy children, who shall carry on this
godly line, and who shall live more closely to Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus.
2. “The faithful fail.” Where are the faithful
ones, the men and women, who are prepared to do what is right in the sight of
God, cost what it may? Search among the children of men today, even among
instructed saints, and see how comparatively few are to be found, prepared to
suffer for their faithfulness, in this our easy–going age. They seem hardly to
exist. Help, Lord!
But shall we despair because of the state of
things around us, and even among ourselves? No, for “God is faithful,” so rather
let us be the more fervent, the more real, the more earnest, the more prayerful.
Why should we not follow, by God’s help, along the lines of the godly and
faithful, who lived in days that are past? God is the same. He is unchanging. Is
there a valid reason for us to sit down with folded hands, and give up? Cannot
we be among the godly and faithful ones, even if others fall out by the way? In
the very earliest days the Apostle Paul had to write to some, “Ye did run well;
who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?” (Gal. 5:7) Let us never
forget that God is faithful, and therefore He can help each of us to be in that
company who are “godly” and “faithful.”