Psalm 112. Just ten verses. Short little chapter. Big truth.
verse 1 - Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.
The psalmist is rejoicing that he knows and experiences this truth - blessing (and this Hebrew word, “esher” literally means “happy” and only occurs in the plural form which suggests overflowing abundance) comes to those who fear the Lord. What is fearing the Lord? The phrase following the proclamation tells us - it is one who greatly delights in His commandments. Clearly there is a link between blessing and obedience! The obedience is the result of faith - fearing the Lord includes believing Him so that we obey Him. As much as we like to think all blessings are only underserved favor, this shows us that obedience results in blessing. Now don’t hear what I am not saying - God doesn’t “owe” us anything. Every good gift is because He is generous and desires to bless. Every one. But this psalm illustrates for us the blessings He promises us when we obey. It’s as though He shows us that His path is strewn with treasures and we can have them when we walk on it. His love won’t leave us, even when we stray from His path but it is on His path that we experience the promise of these blessings.
The remainder of the psalm shares some of those with us…
verses 2,3 - blessings on the descendants of the one who fears the Lord. The word used for “blessed” here is different than the one in verse 1. This particular word, “barak”, includes the idea of receiving kindness from another. The idea here is that the one who fears the Lord lives in such a way as to pour blessing out on subsequent generations.
verse 3 might tempt us to expect financial prosperity is a birthright of all Christians. I don’t think that is the promise. First, the truth is “wealth” is relative. What you and I consider barely getting by would be viewed by scores of nations as opulent. I think this verse is describing deeper things, true wealth. The rest of the psalm supports that perspective. The wealth of security, of confidence that needs will be met, the riches of peace and joy and stability and permanence - those cannot be bought or sold and it is this wealth that comes to those who fear the Lord.
verses 4-9 further describe these riches: light arises in the darkness The one who fears the Lord is not exempt from hard times, from “darkness”, but in those times, light dispels it. There is hope, not despair. There is satisfaction, not emptiness. There is faith, not futility. And that light transforms his behavior. Instead of being angry or fearful or self-centered, even in the darkness, the one who fears the Lord is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
The one who fears the Lord knows the joy of selflessness and also of seeing truth win. Through the darkness, he is stable and confident and not fearful. Because he trusts in the Lord, because he knows that God is for him, working all things for good, even in the darkness, his heart is steadfast.
The one who fears the Lord. Contrasted in verse 10 with the one who does not - that one sees the blessing of the righteous and is “vexed” - angry, disturbed, grieved, provoked. (Haven’t we all experienced that from someone else at one time or another!). This one who won’t fear the Lord will gnash his teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked will perish, instead of being satisfied.
Wow. That is a most wonderful psalm we had in this week’s reading!
darkness