Psalm 112
1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures for ever. 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. 5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered for ever. 7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures for ever; his horn will be lifted high in honour.
10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.
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Psalm 112 –Consequences of blessing
(Verse 1) Every true spiritual blessing in life starts with God. That is why the best hymns focus on God and not mainly on how we feel – though the two are not always incompatible. So, Psalm 112 bids us first to ‘Praise the LORD’. Then we are told that God’s blessing comes to ‘the man who fears the LORD’. We have noted before that such fear of Him, on the part of those who know Him as their Lord and Saviour, though faith in Jesus Christ, is a reverential and loving fear, not a terror-stricken panic. If you know the Lord Jesus, through His death on the cross when He bore your sins and was punished for them in your place, this psalm says that a big change in your life is that now you will delight to obey His commands. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command’. (John 14:15).
(Verses 2-9) What blessed consequences follow for those made ‘upright’ by their obedient trust in the Lord! Here they are:
- Their children are blessed: that can be both physical children, and those to whom you are a spiritual
- Prosperity – always spiritually in Christ, and at times physically too.
- Righteousness: first we are counted as righteous through faith in Jesus, and then He changes us and makes us live righteously to please Him.
- Light in darkness: Jesus, the ‘Light of the world’ (John 8:12) is always with us in the darkest situations and problems. His word brings light too.
- As this light is for those who are ‘gracious and compassionate and righteous’, God makes those who are not naturally like that become like that. Ask Him to do that for you. He will, if you trust Jesus as Saviour and obey Him as the Bible teaches.
- God’s presence makes those who obey Him unshakeable in being just and generous to others.
- A steadfast trust in God, security, and lack of fear even when the news is bad.
- Final triumph as they follow Christ. This is always eternally true! Even those who are martyred for their faith in Christ end up in Heaven with Jesus. Her on earth we triumph, if Christ is exalted and we keep close to Him – and He blesses us for that.
(Verse 10) There is a sad but clear contrast between the man who trusts in the Lord, and so obeys Him, and the unrepentant ‘wicked man’ who goes his own way. Not only will he achieve ‘nothing’ lasting. Worse still, he will be eternally separate from God in Hell. His state of vexation and gnashing his teeth will continue forever. But if, even now, he repents of his sins and trusts in Jesus, he will be forgiven, blessed and changed by God.
