Righteousness Endures Forever: Psalm 112

 112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,

Who greatly delights in His commandments.

2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;

The generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house,

And his righteousness endures forever.

Psalm 112 is a depiction of the righteous man’s behavior and characteristics. Righteousness is ultimately shown to us in Christ, and we are to be imitators of Jesus. In this Psalm, the author describes the blessings the righteous enjoy. The first is the joy of delighting in the Lord’s commands which will lead to wealth and mighty generations. This reminds me of righteous Job’s life at the beginning of the book of Job. He was “blameless and upright” with ten children and thousands of livestock and servants. “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). Because of this man of God’s holy lifestyle, he was blessed immeasurably with family and earthly riches. Job recognized that beyond these ephemeral treasures were eternal riches that far outweigh his wordly possessions. Likewise, God’s word and works have captured the righteous man’s heart in Psalm 112, and he lives his life accordingly.

Further, notice how family is connected to prosperity. In today’s culture, it seems that having many children is not a blessing but a burden. However, in the Bible family is considered a gift from God and a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3). This Psalm promises that the righteous man’s children will be blessed because of him. In a society that is living for instant gratification and rarely thinks generationally, this Psalm is a crucial reminder that our influence now will affect the lives of many who will come after us.  Spurgeon said of this verse, “The children of the righteous man commence life with greater advantages than others, and are more likely to succeed in it, in the best and highest sense…the race of sincere, devout, righteous men, is kept up from age to age, and ever abides under the blessing of God.”

  

4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright;

He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.

5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;

He will maintain his cause in judgment.

In verse 4, the blessing and righteousness of this man overflow to those around him. There are many temptations that come with wealth and prosperity, and this man deals with them appropriately. He flees from being miserly, greedy, unfair, ungrateful, or afraid. He recognizes that he must be a good steward of what he has been given, and that the greatest wealth is found his contentment in God. 

6 For he will never be shaken;

The righteous will be remembered forever.

7 He will not fear evil tidings;

His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear

Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.

9 He has given freely to the poor,

His righteousness endures forever;

His horn will be exalted in honor.

10 The wicked will see it and be vexed,

He will gnash his teeth and melt away;

The desire of the wicked will perish.

Alternate ways of life are ultimately futile. The final verse of the Psalm contrasts the righteous man with the life of the wicked. The Psalm has stated twice of the righteous, “His righteousness endures forever,” but the wicked will simply melt away, soon forgotten. In Derek Kidner’s commentary on Psalm 112, he noted, “In this Psalm, where the accent is on things that last, the man who dares to be generous is seen as the one who will be remembered, whose good deeds will never lose their value.”

It’s important for us as Christians, striving to follow the model of the righteous man (and ultimately Christ, the only one who gave us the perfect example of sinlessness), to make sure that our focus is still on lasting riches. What we do now will have an impact on eternity and on the souls of others. This Psalm shows that the fleeting desires of the world will come to nothing, while the righteous man knows how to spend his days and money in a way that glorifies God and helps those in need. He invests in the lives of others, and this does not go unnoticed. In fact, his righteousness will endure forever.

"Light arises in the darkness for the upright."