As we noticed last week, at this place in the Psalter, we have two alphabetical psalms. The subject of the 112th is the blessedness of the righteous man. The 111th described the greater glory of our God. This Psalm describes the mirror with which the world has a hint of our Almighty God. And that mirror is the imputed righteousness which His true children shine forth in witness to His real glory! As you hold up this psalm before you, this description should challenge you to consider your calling to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5: 16).

Our psalm for today has three uneven divisions. We find our subject stated in verse one, enlarged in verses two to nine and finally contrasted in verse ten.

Verse one begins with the word "Hallelujah". In our version we have the common meaning of Hallelujah, "Praise the Lord." This phrase is most popular in the psalter and God's people have never tired of singing His praise. In this context our praise is given for what our Lord and God intends to make of us! This plan of God is one of his own choosing. Two worldly images come to mind here, first there is the old cartoonish advertiser Charlie Tuna who supposed he deserved the Star Kist label and in advertisements over the years has contrived to give the proper image necessary! The second advertising example is that of a lonely little peanut who wanted and hoped to be part of a particular peanut buttery spread. Of course our hope is greater, and God's purpose will be served because we are His workmanship.

The second and third phrases of verse one pick up where the last verse of Psalm 111 leaves off. "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord." That fearful knowledge indeed proves to be an eternal blessing for all whom the Lord chooses. The complete blessing is described in the last phrase of verse one. There we see that the true men and women of God find delight in God's commands. Personal holiness becomes a joy rather than a burden. This teaching can be a real challenge for us who are growing in the true faith. There are many people who rejoice in the doctrines of the Bible, but who find personal obedience to the commandments to be more than they can handle!

Of course, many do obey the commandments, but they do so out of a holy fear and not out of true delight in the word of God! What we all must learn is that cheerful obedience is the only acceptable obedience. If we obey reluctantly, we are really disobedient at heart. On many occasions over the years I have attempted to get adult sized students to stop what they were doing and simply change their behavior without getting into a recorded punishment situation. Alas, more often than not, rightful authority is being challenged and unsupported these days and it is harder and harder to attain a necessary change in attitude and behavior. In the same way, when we are reminded of sins which violate the laws and regulations of our God, how seriously do we listen? Do we realize that His commandments are for our own eternal well being and part of His ongoing plan to build up Christ's Kingdom?

Or do we only consider our sins as a personal embarrassment, with no implications beyond our own eternal destiny? But what praise is there for God in our embarrassment? Instead, there is real praise and glory in taking pleasure in doing His good will. We may well ask if we are thoroughly converted until we completely delight in God and His service? Sanctification is a difficult and necessary calling our whole life long! Blessed indeed are the elect of God who do delight in doing His will! Our psalmist puts the majority of his verses here to work describing the blessings given to those who truly fear our Lord and our God.

As we move on to verse two, let us be careful in our literal understanding of our translation. While we do know that God's promise is indeed for us and our own children, the Hebrew phrase should better be understood in the sense of the "seed of Abraham". This means that it is all true believers who imitate the faith of Abraham. While it is true that faith tends to run in families, the words here are a general statement rather than a specific promise. Each generation that is upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches here are associated with eternal righteousness. We should note that material prosperity or poverty are only temporary. We should have a care for those things that are eternal.

Verse four notes that "Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness." We have only to take note of the Humanist darkness that clouds most of Europe and Asia. Yet, even there God is raising up His Russian and Chinese Churches. The second phrase of verse four which describes God's people is similar to words in Psalm 111 that describe God Himself in the same terms. From this comparison we should learn that when God makes us upright, he makes us like Himself. We should note that at our best we are but humble copies of the Divine original. And this fact is given by God's grace.

In the next verse we move on from a sense of spiritual integrity to a description of spiritual obedience. Once again we see that there is a connection between faith and works. A person's faith will carry over into the ordering of their worldly affairs. God's own people will be blessed as they show justice and generosity. The psalmist also promises that such people will not be shaken. God's people will not be distressed with bad news. Their hearts are secure and know no worldly fears. Their spiritual prosperity will be eternal. God will remember them forever because of their trust in Him. And in the end God's own people will look in triumph on their worldly foes.

Our last verse in this division sums up the grace and blessings given freely by our God in this sense. What we have received we must freely share. in this verse the theme of our psalm is sounded for the third time. We saw it first in the delights of His commands in verse one. We saw it second in verse four in our mirror of His righteousness. We see at last here in verse nine the eternity of our honor as we scatter abroad the news of His eternal grace.

Our theme is simple. We are His and our greatest ministry is to serve His purpose. "In Him we live and move and have our being". For that we owe Him praise and obedience. By contrast our psalmist notes the way of the wicked who will see and will be so grieved that their hated of God and His own elect will waste themselves away . Their promise is to come to nothing! How wide and great is the gulf between the righteous and the wicked. Oh for the grace to be blessed by the reality of His love. This reality calls forth our worship and our praise today and always. Amen.