Psalm 112 – Part iii
Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness
He is gracious, full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man deals graciously and lends
He will guide his affairs with discretion v4,5
First of all, I don’t want to dodge or flatten these verses: they are addressed to men. And therefore to me.
Yes, I know if you are a woman reading Ps112, the Holy Spirit who inspired the unknown author to pen these words, can use them to speak to you, personally, but it is also true to say that if the Holy Spirit inspired the author to address these thoughts to men, then we men need to sit up and take notice.
Imagine by John Lennon speaks of a longing for a kind of universal peace – a ‘brotherhood of man’, but this can’t appear except through the type of men…and I mean men…who fit the description of Psalm 112.
Line 1. These are men who maintain a moral integrity even under severe temptations and trial, or darkness of soul, or circumstance…they hang on, waiting for light to rise like the sun to rise each morning after the night. Men of radical faith, whose hope is not easily overcome by darkness.
Lines 2 & 3
There is a direct link between a life of faith, love, and hope, and how open our hearts are. Open hearts can be measured quite easily…follow the money. These men know how to be generous but with discretion. They are, by nature, men of good judgement and discern automatically how, when, and to whom to ‘disperse abroad’ and ‘give to the poor’ ie those in need v9.
Line 4 discretion
It’s quite easy to read such verses and think these are ‘good ideals to strive for’, or ‘the world would be a better place’ if everyone did this, and we end up becoming moralists in danger of self-righteous bigotry, measuring everyone by these standards, disapproving of those who fail in some way. In other words, seeking salvation individually, or for society, by ‘works’, by human effort.
Goodness! As a former teacher, how easy it would be to produce a training programme for children, teenagers, and the workplace around these verses! After reading some of the terrible, banal Vision Statements or Logos for schools and companies – verses 4 and 5, or indeed the whole of 112 would be infinitely better!
But it would be a disaster. Righteousness is not obtained by effort. It’s a gift from God. To be received.
Wrapped up in that gift is Christ Himself, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit, God, three in One. When they come and take up residence in us, change, discipleship, the transformative training really starts.
All these ‘fruits’ start to grow. If you are a believer, and have received the gift of righteousness, that work, the work of God in you, through you, in your form, as you…has begun. How’s it going? It’s a gradual rejigging of your patterns of thinking; it’s a maturing process. What is the Spirit of God turning His attention to in your life at this moment?
So, these verses are great descriptions of how men in the kingdom, indwelt by God Himself, are en route (none of us do these perfectly, as well as Christ!) to fulfilling these verses…even if they are experiencing darkness at this time. Wait and see. The sun shall rise. Light shall rise in the darkness.
In the first of these posts about Ps112, I mentioned that the Spirit highlighted Ps112 to me during a time of considerable pressure, of darkness and injected me with an extra boost to my faith, to hang in there, for the light to shine. It did. Darkness is not a strange phenomenon. We have a physical reminder every 12 or so hours.
Let the night and day cycle encourage anyone stuck in the night…morning is coming.