Psalm 12, 365 DAYS OF LOVE #251

MEMORY VERSE: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

NOTES: 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.

 ³ May the LORD silence all flattering lips
   and every boastful tongue—
⁴ those who say,
   “By our tongues we will prevail;
   our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

 ⁵ “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
   I will now arise,” says the LORD.
   “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
⁶ And the words of the LORD are flawless,
   like silver purified in a crucible,
   like gold^[c] refined seven times.

 ⁷ You, LORD, will keep the needy safe
   and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
   when what is vile is honored by the human race.

To be honest, this passage sort of confused me...so my notes today are going to be a series of questions that I have about the passage:
1. Why does David say that "the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished" in v.1? Doesn't that seem a bit like a generalization? What does he mean by this?
2. How does the first part of the passage--v.1-3, relate to the second half of the passage(v.5-8)?? It doesnt seem like flattery/deceiving tongues and oppression of the needy have a lot in common...Then again, "the words of the Lord are flawless" (v.6)
3. What is the context of this Psalm? Who are the wicked that he is referring to?
ACT OF LOVE: Today, I accompanied my mom to buy lightbulbs for our outdoor lamps and helped change all the bulbs since most of them didn't work.