¹Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.

Psalms 111 and 112 are connected by theme and literary markers (similar wording and the use of acrostics). Both begin with “Praise the Lord.” The latter picks up the theme of “fear the Lord” (vs. 1) from the last verse of the former. Whereas Psalm 111 displays descriptive praise for God’s wonderful works among His people, Psalm 112 describes a man who wisely lives by God’s commandments. Like the previous psalm, this one displays twenty-four lines of truth, the first six verses with doublets of two lines each and the last four containing triplets. Every line begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Therefore, if the “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10a), then the entire Psalm 112 expands on what such a person is like who has the fear of the Lord. He is, first of all, blessed! This is a refrain heard throughout the Psalms, beginning with the very first: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” (Ps. 1:1). The next occurrence of this refrain concerns the person who failed to walk in the wisdom of Psalm 1. When King David was recovering from his monumental fall, he wrote, “How blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Ps. 32:1). Seventeen times in the Psalms, we are reminded of “How blessed is the person!” Our present Psalm 112 gives us a complete description of what that person looks like, which very much emulates the praise-worthy description of God in Psalm 111.

A blessed person fears the Lord and enjoys learning and living by God’s commands (vs.1). He doesn’t shrink back from charges of “legalism,” so easily thrown at those fully committed to the Lord. Verse 2 is among those verses that cause difficulty for godly believers whose children walk away from the faith. But if we consider this psalm as wisdom literature, then we can say that the truths written here are generally true, notwithstanding those caveats or exceptions as seen in other biblical assertions. Wisdom literature doesn’t speak to all specific situations but sets a framework that will guide and motivate us to live righteously in the fear of the Lord. Therefore, the blessed man sees his blessing passed down to his children and descendants when they live upright lives (vs. 2).

The person who fears the Lord will generally be more prosperous than if he did not fear Him (vs. 3a). In the darkest times of life in this fallen world, the God-fearing man sees the light of God’s presence and truth, and will himself be a light to others. He can afford to be gracious, compassionate, and righteous (vs. 4) because He knows his Lord, who is all those things to him. He is not enslaved to his money but is gracious toward others with it (vs. 5). His spiritual equilibrium will not be disturbed by the unrighteous people around him. Although not bandied about for praise, his righteousness will not be forgotten (vs. 6).

Verses 7-9 expand on the above characteristics of a man who fears the Lord. Added is the incisive comment in verse 9b: “he will not fear, until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.” In other words, he will not give way to fearfulness even before he sees the outcome for those who work against him. His fear of the Lord is greater than the fear of people. But there is coming a time when, “The wicked will see it [his wrongdoing for what it is] and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked will perish” (vs. 10).

Yes, this wisdom psalm feats the character of a person who fears the Lord. However, it is a psalm of praise as well, beginning with, “Praise the Lord.” The wisdom that tells us that a man is blessed when he fears the Lord gives us cause to reflect this truth back to the Lord, for He is all that the righteous person seeks to emulate. In this, he becomes an effective image-bearer of God. Thus, a life lived in the fear of the Lord is a life that inherently brings praise to Him.

Lord, may my life be a reflection of You. In You is my motivation and my goal.