THE BLESSINGS PSALM
Psalms 112:1, 4 & 7 NKJV
1 Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.
4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
7 He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
You must read this entire psalm to get a sense of how many blessings are listed. Psalm 112 is only ten verses, but it contains a blessing in almost every verse.
Let’s start with your descendants being mighty on the earth. An entire generation blessed. Wealth and riches in your house and a forever right standing with God. How about light that arises when things are dark? Guiding your affairs with wisdom and never being shaken with what happens in life. But wait, there’s more. Always being remembered by God. A steady, established heart and living without being afraid. The ability to be able to give both to foreign ventures and to the poor. Being exalted in strength and your enemies having to see your desires come to pass despite their best efforts. Whew! How’s that for blessings?
But there’s a catch. Or a better word than catch would be there are conditions to these blessings. It’s easy to look at all the good things in this short psalm and overlook the conditions. These blessings don’t just happen; they happen to the person who meets the requirements..
So, the first two conditions are being a person who fears God and delights greatly in His commandments. There is a high level of reverence for the Lord. A respect for Him that impacts all areas of life. And delighting greatly in God’s Word goes hand in hand with the fear of the Lord. Jesus said why do you call me Lord Lord and not do the things that I say. If we reverence God, we will reverence His word in our lives. And not just reverence but greatly delight in God’s Word makes it more than a duty. We love God and love His word to us. This starts us on the path to the rest of the blessings.
Then, in verse four, the person who is blessed is gracious, full of compassion, and righteous, or we could also say living right. Being gracious and full of compassion are godly traits that would go hand in hand with walking in love. Living righteous in all we do is challenging, just as being gracious and compassionate, but remember these are conditions to blessings, so certainly worth the effort.
And lastly, we are not afraid with a steady heart because we are trusting in the Lord. We have faith in Him, so we are better positioned to resist fear. In the New Testament, Paul would often mention the faith and love of the churches. This psalm would indicate the same two attributes: faith in God. Love for God and His word, and love for people. Challenging? Absolutely! But oh, the blessed life that ensues.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for helping me develop these wonderful attributes that make a blessing and that make me blessed!