Will It Go Round in Circles?

In 1972, musician Billy Preston released an album that included “Will It Go Round in Circles?” that rose to number one on the US charts with three paradoxical concoctions: a song without a melody, a story without a moral, and a dance without steps. The chorus then asks two important questions of each: “Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?” I do not know Preston’s original thoughts about the song, but it appears that he has no idea whether people will catch on to what he offers so that each will either fly high to be popular or just spin around but go nowhere. Either way he doesn’t care: all that matters is that something is produced.

While Preston’s lyrical intentions were likely whimsical to draw listeners and increase record sales, they do express an ethos of self-pursuing individual desire and fulfillment as the ultimate goal. These are those who go round in circles with eyes focused solely on this world with its limited vision for those things under the sun. Attitudes and actions are put forth with the sole purpose of pleasing and building up self. People are helped or hurt for the purpose of satisfying the individual. Conversely, others fly high because of their acceptance of what the Lord offers or desires, living in the light of Christ. Their perspective is not in what is gained but what is given: self is mortified for the benefit of family and community.

David, in Psalm 11 LXX (12 MT), presents the contrast between these groups.

1	Fᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ Eɴᴅ, ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɪɢʜᴛʜ; ᴀ ᴘsᴀʟᴍ ʙʏ Dᴀᴠɪᴅ.
2(1)	Save me, O Lord, for the holy man has ceased;
	The truthful are diminished from among the sons of men.
3(2)	Each one speaks useless things to his neighbor;
	Deceptive lips speak with a double heart.
4(3)	May the Lord destroy all deceptive lips
	And the tongue that speaks boastful things,
5(4)	Saying, “We will make our tongue powerful;
	Our lips are our own;
	Who is lord over us?”

David sees this world oppressing souls in many ways and asks the Lord to be saved. Only He can provide true healing when no godly man can be found in such a crowd of evil. One might ask why this evil is so prevalent or in other words, “Where has the good man gone?” Holy men come to an end when truth (i.e., God’s Word) is diminished, when the perversity of sin stains the benefits of His good gifts. How is this manifest? Two different, but similar, ways are shown to undercut truth. First, the ungodly speak useless or vain words, which are fleeting. They please the ears with that which lacks substance having the intent of misleading or falsifying. The story is passed from one associate to another so that it becomes normative. We now see what David describes: they are duplicitous at heart and as a whole speak with forked tongue, saying what is needed for the moment, even if it alters or contradicts what had been stated previously, in order to push the narrative.

The ungodly spew forth evil as if the outcome of events was entirely in their control rather than providentially directed by a divine hand. Being caught up in the greatness of their rhetoric, they become swollen with pride and fail to understand that their own ability is supplied by the Creator. They fail to take in good sense and rush to their own destruction. In response to this deception, David calls for a general judgment by the Lord according to His Word (Deut 19:15–21), meting out the just penalty for their pride and self-glorification.

6(5)	“Because of the suffering of the needy,
	And because of the groaning of the poor,
	Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
	“I will establish them in salvation;
	I will declare it boldly.”
7(6)	The words of the Lord are pure words,
	Like silver fired in a furnace of earth,
	Purified seven times.
8(7)	You shall guard us, O Lord;
	You shall preserve us from this generation forever.
9(8)	The ungodly walk in a circle;
	In Your exaltation, You highly exalted the sons of men.

As the oppressed journey through this world, they pray for deliverance from the ungodliness around them, and because of their prayers and groaning, the Lord responds. He establishes the godly in salvation by arising to their circumstance to deliver them from tribulation. While the promise of salvation is given, there is no indication whence or when the rescue will come. We rely on the certainty of a God who cannot relent: He will rescue and vindicate with just judgment and punishment on the evil-doers. This promise is consummated in the Lord Jesus as He gains the ultimate victory over sin and death in His resurrection, exercising administration in the ascension, awaiting the final judgment wherein all is made right.

As opposed to the earlier boastful and deceptive human words, David praises the divine, which are not tainted or tarnished with inconsistency but are flawlessly pure more so than the finest precious metal. Accordingly, he promises that the Lord will preserve those who have believed His utterances with a pure heart. We cannot be guarded by our own strength, but we rest in His consolation both in this life and in the one to come supplying everlasting freedom from anxiety. He helps us here, and glorifies and crowns us there; He preserves us in this world lest we perish, and blesses us in the next so that we can be wholly free.

The psalmist ends with the reason for his request and, thus, the purpose for the opening video: the wicked continue to prowl or strut about. Their circuitous routes are always invested with evil deeds so that they never reach the right path, but when they are exalted in their deeds, vileness reigns among men. Their end is utter destruction on the last day. Conversely, those who believe the pure words of the Lord are exalted to heavenly places (Eph 2:6-7), not according to their merit but according to His immeasurable grace in Christ Jesus.