Lifted Up

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFTED UP

Ps 112

112:1

Praise the LORD.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.   5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. 7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes. 9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

NIV

It is really too bad the wicked do not read the scripture. They would understand why they are so vexed and gnash their teeth and waste away. They would see how all they long for will come to nothing. Sure, it seems like they flourish in some ways, but inside they are wasting away. All they strive for is meaningless in the eternal. Does that some like sour grapes? Does it sound like we are jealous or envious of their wealth or possessions? They have no delight in the commands of the Lord, they live only for they own pleasures and unfortunately they will perish. But we fear the Lord and we do delight in his commands for they are sure and just and always have our best interest at heart. We are his children and we are mighty in the land. We are a generation of upright, because we are in Christ. We are the generation of the born again. Our birth into the kingdom of God makes us this upright generation. We have the greatest of wealth and riches because we have the truth of God, we have Jesus, and we have eternal life and that righteousness endures forever. What is richer than that? This life is temporary, the one we live in this flesh, we have to live within it, within the constraints of space and time. Once we lived as the wicked, vexed in the darkness, without the light of Jesus in our life. But there was a dawn, the light dawned in our spirit and we saw the light and came out of the darkness of our mind and spirit. There is a question with the translation about who is gracious and compassionate and righteous. This translation says it is the upright man, others indicate it is the Lord. This has to be the Lord, for he is all of that, and we are not. Although that should be our goal, to be more like Jesus each day. Honesty in all we do in the affairs of life, whether that is in business, either as the employer, or employee, or in the affairs of the Spirit, speaking the truth, but partnered with grace or graciousness and compassion. This is not bible thumping the wicked, this is loving them, allowing the Spirit to flow through us onto them. Our faith will not waver, it will not be shaken, by anything man has to offer. Because we are in Christ, we are consider the righteous and as such we will be remembered, perhaps not by people, but by God. But then again perhaps people do remember our graciousness and compassion, our outpouring of love upon them. However, the point is that our faith will not be shaken and it is not just so we will be remembered, but because we put all out trust in God. Our heart is steadfast, it is steady, and it is secure. We fear nothing from God or man. In the end, when this life in this physical form comes to a close we will triumph over the wicked. We will be ushered into the Lord’s rest, they will not, although that is wonderful, it is also sad for them. However, they still have time to see the dawn of light. Where will they see that light? Has not Jesus told us we are the light of the world? Should we not be shining our light into the darkness of their world? We should not be joyous because they will perish. This scattering of our gifts to the poor may well speak of earthly wealth, which then would speak in opposition to storing up wealth for ourselves. But it could also speak of scattering the gift of God among the poor souls who will perish without the opportunity to know his gift of eternal life. Let us spread the righteousness of God among the nations, among those we come in contact with. For his righteousness endures forever, anyone who has his righteousness, Jesus, endures forever. Our life will be lifted up. May you all be lifted up this Christmas day. Merry Christmas dear friends.