God listens…and speaks!

11 Aug God listens…and speaks!

11 August 2026

I was privileged to lead staff devotions out at Wagga Christian College this morning. As a staff they’re reading through the Psalms, & I had the opportunity to reflect with them on Psalm 12. It’s a plea for God’s help in a culture that David sees slipping farther & farther away from faithfulness. It reads in part… Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth! Neighbours lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips & deceitful hearts… Those words could have come from any of us in any conversation around our dinner tables or over coffee at your favourite café.

David senses a growing faithfulness vacuum in the world around him…I share his despondency…I heard someone use the expression, “Systemic dishonesty” the other day in describing the growing sense that we no longer know whom we can trust. We used to say, “the fish stinks from the head down,” when political leaders led the way in being scoundrels…or parents failed to teach their children the basics of honesty, integrity & trustworthiness.

David asks God to step in & cut off the source of the social poison he sees undermining what is good, right, & true around him. It’d be like asking God today to drop a computer virus into the social media platforms or laryngitis into Parliament House. David is especially incensed at those who believe they are above being held accountable…verse 4 reads, They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

David’s pleas…and we’re to know ours as well…fall on listening ears…verse 5: The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless. I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” God is a God who speaks in reply to our cries. As well, God is concerned with the vulnerable, the bottom end of the social ladder, those who are easy prey for the unscrupulous & the deceptive. God replies & pledges himself to the vulnerable. When the weak are crushed by the deceptive words & work of the powerful, God moves from observant silence to direct action to provide remedy. God declares that he alone can & will re-establish justice & righteousness by his own hand according to his own standard.

And because God’s word is always true, always reliable, & always fulfilled, we can trust him even if we can’t see immediate result from his promises. The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, & evil is praised throughout the land. The Psalm ends on a sober & honest note. While God engages forcefully to preserve, protect & provide for His people, the wicked may well continue to be a problem because society continues to praise & exalt that which is morally cheap & degraded…and which often hurts the faithful & tempts us to go their way.

There are no quick fixes & often no satisfying remedies on this side of the completed Kingdom…but we are not abandoned. We are heard & strengthened & defended as we live a journey of trust & hope that is fulfilled in Christ where we know all causes of sin, deceit & destruction will be one day gone forever…maybe just not today.

Now some opportunities to be strengthened & preserved by God’s hand & to hear his voice in reply to our prayers…

• Saturday August 15^th – Living Water Prayer Morning @ the Prenzler’s home 10:00 a.m.
• Sunday August 16^th – we continue our worship & teaching series on Joshua – Learning to be Different. Under Joshua’s leadership, God’s people move into their new lives in their Promised homeland. Everything about them is changing, but they are still called to be faithful to Yahweh. Becoming the people God calls us to be is always a process of learning to be His in the varied & shifting circumstances of life. But God is always faithful to his promises. When we fail. God is ready to reclaim & restore. God is always the architect of our days no matter the challenges & changes within them. Join us as we learn to be different under the joyous shaping of God’s hand on our lives. AND It’s a Morning Tea Sunday!!!
• Monday August 17^th – Intellect Riverina presentation on “Sabbath & the Gospel” with Dr Amy Erickson @ the Fairfax Centre @ St Martin’s College, CSU Campus – 7:00 p.m.
• Thursday August 20^th – Ladies Fellowship @ Chez Wiencke in Settler’s Village – 10:00 a.m. with lunch for those who stay around afterwards. Talk to Sue about what you can bring to share.
• Saturday August 22^nd – Last Chance to get on board! – Albury Men’s Convention with Guest Speaker Malcolm Gill – We’ll have a car driving down…talk to Phil or me if you’re interested in going.
• Wednesday August 26^th – Caloola Court Devotions – 10:30 a.m.
• And a few in the “Claim the Date” file:
  • Tuesday 8^th September – feeding the CSU UniChurch students! Details will come closer to the date.
  • Sunday 27^th September – Annual InterSport Lake-to-Lake Run-n-Ride – Worship begins at 12:00 noon with lunch in the Guide Hall

God bless you with his peace!

John