Psalm 112 - God’s Promises to the Righteous
After having a renewed understanding that righteousness (believing God, obeying Him, being zealous for His honor) consists of maintaining purity in my relationship with God, it was very instructive to read this Psalm, to see the benefits of maintaining that purity. As you read the psalm, picture someone whose relationship with God is of utmost importance to them, where it’s a priority, and they are sincere in desiring it and maintaining it.
 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 forever. 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 forever. 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 forever;
      his horn will be lifted high in honor. 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.
The two verses on righteous are reminiscent of Passover for me (I’m Jewish, but believe in Jesus)… where we recite that God’s steadfast love endures forever… well apparently someone with a pure relationship with God will be credited with righteousness that endures forever. That makes sense, because that righteousness if a gift from God, a token of His enduring love, first credited to us when we were but unrighteous sinners who did nothing more than believe God’s Word. From that comes obedience, and through that obedience comes pure relationship with God… which is also credited to us as righteousness. A study of righteousness is a study of the Gospel, and points at the eternal benefits of a personal relationship with God… and leads to tangible acts that we can do every day. How can you be zealous for God? How can you make your relationship with Him more pure? Do this in obedience to Him, and in belief in His promises, and your righteousness will endure in His love forever.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Wow. After writing what I did above, yesterday, it turns out I was refering to Psalm 118… and that’s today’s Psalm for me. Pretty cool. The verse on righteousness in Psalm 118 is:
“19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.”