Psalms 112:1

The Bible says in Psalm 112:1, “Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.” Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Everyone is blessed in some ways, but how do you get all the blessings of God? This verse explains two things that are important to get as many blessings as possible in this life. Fear God and love His commandments. God punishes sin, so you had better fear Him since you are a sinner. God punishes sin, so you had better turn to Christ for forgiveness before it is too late for you. There will be negative consequences to sin in a practical way because God watches over all people and God decides what will happen to them. One of the reasons that God gave us His commandments is so that we would have the blessings that would flow as a result of keeping the commandments. Of course, forgiveness is the only means of avoiding the negative consequences of sin. By the way, they are called “his” commandments. The Bible does not come from man. The Bible comes from God. God used man to write the sixty-six books of the Bible, but by the process of inspiration every word is God’s Word.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:2-3, “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.” These verses begin telling the benefits of serving God. God promises that the “seed” of those who serve God will be “mighty upon earth.” If you teach your children the Bible and God’s way, and if they follow it, your children will accomplish their potential. They will not lose what they could have been or could have done. They will be “blessed.” The first part of verse three promises “wealth and riches” to those who serve God. That is because God will guide you to have the wisdom to get a practical skill that is marketable, to work hard, to be honest and dependable, and to be respectful to authority. All of these things you will learn from the Bible as you follow Christ, and thus you will be as successful as your opportunities and the will of God allow you to be. Of course, you want to be living a life that will produce results not only for this life, but also for eternity. The last part of verse three reminds us that wealth and riches will pass away, but there are things that will endure: “righteousness endureth for ever.” Make sure you have the righteousness of Christ through faith in Him so that you will go to heaven, and then make sure that you have a righteous life so that you will have rewards in heaven. The Bible is where you learn how to do that.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:4-5, “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.” These verses describe some of the attributes of a righteous person. When a person gets saved through faith in Christ, part of their motivation for turning to Jesus is to start doing the right thing. They desire forgiveness but they also desire to start following the Lord and doing what is right. Immediately the benefits of turning to Christ start coming to them. One of these benefits is “light in the darkness.” Jesus is the Light of the world. Whoever does not have Jesus as their Savior is in spiritual darkness. It is a wonderful thing to go from being blind all your life to being able finally to see. Before telling us more about what a true Christian is like, the last part of verse four tells us what God is like: “gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” God is the greatest giver of all. That is what grace is all about: God giving freely what we cannot earn and do not deserve. Salvation is a gift. Jesus loves us. He is “full of compassion.” That means that He understands that we are sinners and He cares about us despite our sins. Perhaps God thinks like this: “That pour soul just sinned again. I need to help them.” And God is “righteous.” That is one of the many differences between human beings and God: He is righteous and we are unrighteous. He is holy and we are unholy. He is good and we are evil. Wonderfully for us, God found a way to make us righteous too. God simply declares us to be righteous once we put our faith in Christ. In other words, the fact that I am righteous is not based upon my righteous deeds, few as they are, but is based upon the fact that God declares me to be righteous. Whatever God says is so. Whatever God says is fact. Whatever God says is true. I am righteous because God says that I am. It says in Romans 4:3 “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

What is a righteous person like? Verse five of Psalm 112 tells us three things: “A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.” Because a Christian has Christ within, a Christian has kindness and compassion and generosity as an automatic part of his or her character. Christians are the most generous and compassionate people in the world. A Christian also has wisdom. The word that is translated “discretion” means “judgment.” A Christian knows what to do and when to do it, if that Christian has properly used his endless source of wisdom: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:6, “Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.” To be not moved speaks of a sure foundation. That foundation is Christ. Notice the words “forever” and “everlasting.” Because of Jesus, Christians will live forever in heaven. One way of explaining eternal existence is the fact that that God will remember us. We will live because we are in the mind of God. The lost souls will be cast out of God’s mind. They will be remembered no more. The lost souls will be in hell, but in heaven it will be as though they never existed.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:7, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.” One of the many benefits of being a Christian is that we have a source of courage because we trust in the Lord, and we therefore know that the Lord will help us. What is there to fear if you are on God’s side? We certainly do not need to fear evil. God is in control of all evil. Evil can do nothing without God’s permission. Evil fears Jesus and runs away from Him. God controls and uses evil. The best example of this is the death of Jesus on the cross. Evil men hated and conspired and killed Jesus, but God used that to accomplish the sacrifice of His Son for the salvation of all who believe.

The courageous believer is not just brave in the face of evil, but is brave in the face of “evil tidings.” Many times evil does not happen, but people just talk about all the things that might happen that are evil. One can read about some of the worse things that will ever happen on the earth in the book of Revelation, but most of those types of things are not going to happen in the age in which we live. We live in the age of grace. We live in a time when modern advances and modern conveniences help to make human life better than it ever has been on the earth. Yes, disasters can happen, but they probably will not happen to you. God has given us tremendous opportunities. Hopefully, you will use your opportunities for the glory of Christ.

When evil tidings come your way, and even when evil comes your way, you will only be able to handle these things if you are properly prepared spiritually. That is what the phrase “his heart is fixed” is talking about. Trusting in the Lord is not something that you do when you need it. Trusting in the Lord is something you do because you have already determined in your heart that you are going to keep trusting in Jesus no matter what. If you have good times, you trust in the Lord. If you have bad times, you trust in the Lord. If your heart is broken, you trust in the Lord Jesus. Your heart is fixed. Your heart is prepared ahead of time that you are going to trust in the Lord no matter what. The result: you will be courageous when evil tidings come.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:8, “His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.” This verse has a very similar message to the previous verse, which shows how important is the message of it. Many Christians are fearful. They are fearful of persecution. They are fearful of being hated. They fear the authorities. But if you are determined to establish your heart with the right type of spiritual foundation by looking to the Lord constantly, you will become a courageous person. You will not be afraid to be a witness for Christ and to speak out for Him. And there is another benefit to trusting in the Lord in the face of your enemies: you will gain the victory over them. Keep praying for them and trusting in the Lord, and this will be the final outcome if they do not repent: they will perish and you will live forever.

The Bible says in Psalm 112:9, “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.” As Christians fight the spiritual battle and follow the Lord, here is what Christians are really involved in: Christians are generous and compassionate, and they go around helping other where they can. As a matter of fact born-again Christians are the most kind, loving, and generous people in the world. The reason for this is they have the love of Christ in their hearts. Good deeds done in the name of Christ are the most important things being done in this world. The results of these righteous deeds last forever. We will be rewarded in heaven for every single thing that we do in His name to glorify His name. Jesus said in Matthew 10:42, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” And it says at the end of Psalm 112:9, “his horn shall be exalted with honour.”

The Bible says in Psalm 112:10, “The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.” This verse tells us the destiny of the wicked. They will “see it.” What will they see? They will see how great the believers are. They will see all the blessings of God come to the believers because of Jesus. The wicked will see the believers win, and they will see themselves lose everything. The ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy will be the judgment. Four statements are made to describe how terrible it will be for the wicked: they will be “grieved,” they will “gnash” with their teeth.” They will “melt away.” And “the wicked shall perish.” Jesus said basically the same thing. He said, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Repent and turn to Jesus before it is too late.

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