Psalms 112:1-10
1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. 2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever. 4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. 6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. 9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. 10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
Psalm 112 is the description of the Blessed man. This blessed man shows up quite often in the book of Psalms, a life-changing study would be to search the book of Psalms and find out what a blessed man is. Today's chapter reveals many aspects of what being a blessed man entails. Many people want the blessings of the Blessed man without the duties of the blessed man but rest assured you will not have one without the other. A blessed man is something that describes someone that we are not things that we receive. So instead of looking mostly at the blessings in this psalm of the blessed man let's look at the character of a blessed man, if this be your position of heart and life then the blessing of the blessed man will follow.
The Blessed Man Feareth the Lord. What does that statement mean? That we shake and tremble at the name of our Lord? Surely our Lord is fearful and can be terrifying but this is not the fear spoken of here. I would highly encourage you to get out your bible and read Psalm 111 right now. It will be evident that this Psalm and Psalm 111 are inseparable, Psalm 111 speaks of the works and nature of God, and Psalm 112 speaks of the works and nature of the Man who fears the Lord. Fearing the Lord is the first thing mentioned in our psalm because it is where the life of the Blessed man begins, this is our inward disposition to the Lord, this is our response to all his mighty works, this is our heart toward his nature. Psalm 112 doesn't really start with 112:1 but with 111:1, that is, he has looked to the Lord, revered him, and now he will reflect God's nature. Compare these 2 Psalms and you'll find that everything the blessed man does is simply a reflection of what his Lord has done. I believe we see in this a practical picture of what it means to fear the Lord, our first verse states it clearly, "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." This inward reverence and love for the Lord will flesh itself out, a heart that is bowed to the Lord leads to a life bowed to the Lord. Annexed to fearing the Lord is delighting greatly in his commandments, that is he is happy to keep the commands of God and live his life by them, that is the outward life of the man that fears the Lord.Â
The Next characteristic that our Blessed man has is benevolence, Vs. 4b-5"He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide all his affairs with discretion." Vs.9a "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor" The verses we just read could have well described Our Lord, Jesus. Never was there a man more compassionate, gracious, and at the same time righteous. We often find one of these characteristics in a man, but very seldom can all three be found. Many who boast in their righteousness would not dirty their priestly garments to help with the poor. Many of those who would give you the shirt off their back will go and tell it in the street, proving that their benevolence was not for love but for an opportunity to sing their praise. Not the blessed man, "He guides all his affairs with discretion." The blessed man looks at the compassion and grace his Lord has shown him and endeavors to reflect as much of His Lord's heart as he can. Don't bother looking at all the riches annexed to these blessings; The only reason the blessed man received them is because he would use them to reflect the compassion and grace of our Lord.
Lastly, we see that the Blessed man commands his heart. Vs.7b "His heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD" Vs. 8a "His heart is established." The wisest man who ever lived told us "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." We are ending our psalm where we began it, with the heart. That should teach us that the beginning and end of our day ought to be set on heart maintenance. The heart of man is not a car that needs the oil changed every 5,0oo miles but an instrument that needs to be tuned as often as it is used. The word fixed means "built up," the blessed man has built the desires of his heart on His LORD, not the things of this world. that is evident by what he does with his earthly riches. His Hearts ambition is set on being like his Lord and all his fears have been quelled because he is trusting in the LORD. The Word established means to lean upon, that is the explanation of where his fearless resolution comes from, he is leaning on the eternal God who cannot be moved. Never a more kindhearted man will be found than the blessed man and yet never a more lionhearted man will be found, he doesn't fear what men may do, he fears his Lord too much to fear anything else, it has been well said, "The fear of the Lord is the death of all other fears."Â
Dear reader, Are you a blessed man? Does your life imitate the life of our Lord? Is your heart set on him? How much do you reflect his graciousness, benevolence, righteousness, in short, his character? Now read back over the blessings promised to such people and be encouraged to live a life that glorifies our God.Â