The Result of Reverence – Psalm 112

A text – Psalm 112

¹ Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.
² Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
⁴ They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
⁵ It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.
⁶ For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
⁷ They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
⁸ Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
⁹ They have distributed freely; they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.

¹⁰ The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.

A reflection:

Our psalm for this week is related to the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, our passage from a few days ago – It says “Happy (blessed) are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments…” I should say that the meaning of fear here is “reverence and respect,” not “to be terrified of”.   And then, after this “blessed” statement, it says what such blessed people who have reverence for the Lord do – they minister with their lives to all those Jesus was lifting up in his Sermon: the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourning. If Jesus’s hearers knew Psalm 112, and many probably did, they might have taken this lesson from Jesus: God brings us into the world, gives us the gifts of life and faith, and then we serve those that God loves well – the forgotten, the lowly, the poor. In this way God protects the vulnerable in the world by having followers who act with justice and mercy.

I love verses 6-8 – a kind of “whistling in the dark” that we need, because even those who revere and love God are faced with horrible things and fearful times. But the psalmist says “The righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.” We can be secure, even when we ourselves do not feel strong and secure – we are secure not in ourselves or in our own merit, but in the Lord, who is bigger and more powerful than what scares us.

We live in an age when many in power use their power first to make others afraid. But it has often been so with people who hold power. It was true when Rome occupied the tiny kingdoms of Israel and Judea and Samaria in Jesus’s day, too. Holding onto power seems to wind up isolating those who try to keep it. It results in building bigger and thicker walls. We explore those fortifications for fun in castles and moats and city gates in our travels around the world, don’t we – thick walls, many in ruins now, testimony to the people who tried to amass power. But for hearts secure in the Lord, sharing power and doing right by others is the way to be remembered forever, to be right with God and each other. Being afraid comes and goes quickly in that kind of life. Happy indeed are those who reverence the Lord and delight in his commandments. People like us. Amen.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the teachers you have given us who have taught us to revere you and your Word. Help us to let go of fear and continue to act in love toward those around us who need help and love. Amen.