April 12th, 2015
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Practical Godliness

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Loving God, I am not complaining about my journey. However, I do need rejuvenating. Uplift and strengthen me, I pray.

Read Psalm 112:1-10

[1] Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. [2] Their children 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] Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. [5] Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. [6] Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. [7] They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD. [8] Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. [9] They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor. [10] The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

We need to be a people of integrity in what we think, feel, and do–not one third of each, but three thirds of each!

Think Further

This psalm is an alphabet of godliness to follow the alphabet of Godness in Psalm 111 (the 22 lines following the initial “Praise the Lord” are in the form of an acrostic). The godly are Godlike: there is a family resemblance, traceable in the very words used in both psalms.

A few textual points will aid our meditation. Both psalms use some of the most resounding of all Old Testament words–“justice,” “righteousness,” “grace,” “compassion”–words that are common in Proverbs too. Verse 4 should probably be translated “The righteous rise like the sun in the darkness.” NIV amplifies the Hebrew of verse 8b, which refers to the godly “seeing the last of” their enemies. Verse 9 is quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:9-11 about an even more daring and costly generosity (2 Cor. 8:2).

I review my life quietly in the light of this A to Z. Is my life marked by fear and delight (1)? I pray for my offspring to be heroes in our society in their generation (2). Am I generous in lending (5) and giving (9)? Do I come like sunshine into dark places (4)? Do I carry things through and do what I say, right to the end (5b)? I give thanks to God for the unshakeable kingdom to which I am heir (Heb. 12:28). I pray for those (myself?) who find that bad news or opposition makes them wobble, knocks them off balance. Finally I cast my eye over the adjectives and the verbs that describe the righteous in this psalm; I could even draw a mind map of such people, in all their wholeness and integrity, growing into what they are, becoming in the future what they have been in the past, and developing the habit of godliness.

Apply

The last paragraph above is rich with application. As the writer says, “I review my life quietly in the light of this A to Z.”

Closing prayer

Patient Lord, the imperatives of this psalm overwhelm me. Stay with me and surround me. With You, all things are possible.

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