Psalm 112

I greatly enjoy time alone.  Time to work without interruption, time to read, study, pray, and journal.  I have a secret dwelling place where I long to sit and receive from the Lord.  In these secret places, I am safe, taught, corrected, and loved.  If I am not careful I can become a recluse and never step outside my safe little created world. 

God did not redeem us for the purpose of continually dwelling in our safe little world.  We are to be used by Redeemer’s hand.  God gives us in the quite His heart and we are commanded to go out among the hurting and dying with a message of hope. 

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

Who delights greatly in

His commandments. Ps. 112:1

As I was reading Psalm 112 this morning, I was challenged with two questions, “Whom or what do I fear? And where do I delight?”  Do I fear God, apparently not, if I fear a bill not being paid or no food in my belly?  Do I fear God when I chose sin over crucifying my flesh?  Do I fear God when I chose to sit in my comfortable world, imitating the ostrich with his head stuck down in the sand?

What do I delight in?  I know I delight in God’s word but is this delight more than reading, memorizing, and studying?  If we delight in His commandments, should that not be obedience?  I delight in ice cream.  I like the packaging. The container looks nice in my freezer.  I can imagine what it would taste like as it passes over my tongue into the my stomach, but to delight greatly in the ice cream would be to pick up the spoon and shovel it into my mouth.  I think this is the same with delighting in God’s commandments…we must move outside of our self and obey.  To delight greatly is to obey His command. 

I see a trend in the Christian’s life, my life as well, to surround ourselves with people who look and smell just like us.  In an attempt to be holy we have isolated our self from the lost, hurting, and dying world.  God commands us to be salt and light, to delight in this command, we must obey. 

To love others with Jesus’ love is risky.  It may cause us rejection, pain, and suffering.  The mud in people’s lives will be wiped upon us as we begin to clean with the washcloth of the His word.   The fear of getting dirty should never keep us from being obedient to the Lord. 

I see 6 blessings in Psalm 112 that follow fearing the Lord and delighting in His commands.

1)     Our children and grandchildren will be mighty on the earth.

2)     Blessings

3)     Provisions

4)     Light in the darkness

5)     Gracious, full of compassion, and righteousness

6)     Hearts steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 

As I read on, I had a thought, in vs. 8, “His heart is established; He will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.”  My desire upon my enemy is to see them saved.  We are cleansed and declared righteous by the blood of Christ as we walk among the wicked sharing God’s love and His life. We will be honored and the wicked will see it and be grieved.  The desire of the wicked shall perish. Vs.10

These lost, hurting people will see our good works as we live and work among them and they will glorify the God of heaven.  God will bring redemption to their souls.  Yes, we will get dirty but God will clean us up again as we come back to our secret place.