Psalm 112 is a series of three psalms in a row that begin with: "Praise the LORD!" It is an acrostic poem. Each line of this poem begins with the subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Line by line, it uses the device of using the next letter of the alphabet to start the sentence. This poem it talks about the life of the righteous person.

The latter part of the first verse declares:"How joyful are those who fear the LORD and delight in obeying His commands." Fearing the Lord is the way in the Old Testament people talked about a person who was not just of the lineage of Israel, but someone who definitely connected with God as a believer, as one who trusted God, and tried to live in a way that honored God. It is the way the authors in the New Testament would use the word 'believer'.

So a person who joyfully submits their life to God is a person who fears God, not in a terror-stricken sort of way that makes you want to be distant, but in a way that shows healthy respect - like fear for electricity.  I am to respect the incredible power and holiness of God and then to joyfully submit to what He says about living my life.

This psalm is about the righteous person... gracious compassionate, generous and just... but the last verse talks about the person who makes the other choice... the wicked one. "The wicked will see this and be infuriated. They will grind their teeth in anger;

they will slink away, their hopes thwarted."

It is the person who makes the choice to try to grasp on to all they own, try to protect it all, put a wall around it; even if it means unjustly excluding others from it – like building a wall or a moat and after that - arming the gates to protect it. That's the present day mentality... look out and care for #1. What it says here, is that every person makes this choice... unmerciful, hardhearted, tightfisted, and corrupt... that person will see their longings come to nothing. It's a serious choice.

 The Psalm as a whole tells me that the righteous person, gracious, compassionate, generous and just - is made secure. This is a person whose fear of God, whose respect for the guidance and commands of God, has actually resulted in a life that is different.

This is important to hear because it is so easy to view my life with God as a matter of sort of cheap belief, where I can keep God at a distance, do things the way I want, draw the circles the way I want, play the game the way I want, try to protect myself by hook or by crook, and then when it all comes crashing in on me, to be able to go to God and say, "Remember God, I do believe in You... please protect me. The promise written here is for the person who has actually begun to live the life of a 'believer'. 

The righteous person is living in harmony with the image that God created him or her to be, in the image of their Savior Lord Creator.

There is further evidence of this in Psalm 111. Every line in Psalm 112 is a letter of the alphabet. The same is true in Psalm 111. It is also an acrostic psalm. It begins the same way, "Praise the Lord!" It goes through the same letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and it has the same number of verses, but Psalm 111 is about God. Psalm 112 is about the righteous person.

What is astonishing is that the same words are used of God as are used of the righteous person. Psalm 111:3 says this, "His righteousness endures forever." Psalm 112:3 says, "His righteousness endures forever." Psalm 111:4 talks about the Lord: "The Lord is gracious and compassionate." Psalm 112:4 talks about the righteous person: "The gracious, compassionate, and righteous man."

The same words that are used to describe the righteous God, gracious, compassionate, generous and just, talks about the righteous person, gracious, compassionate, generous and just. It is absolutely intentional. This person is blessed because this person is growing in what God intended him or her to be  - in the image of God - as he/she knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The New Testament puts it this way in 1 John 4:15-17:

"All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

 God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world."

It is confirmed in the last line, "we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." That is where security lies.

When I think seriously about it, I feel convicted to the core. I look at my life; I don't see a person who is living out that grace, compassion, generosity and justice in the way that I think it is described here. But for the grace and mercy of God, I am way better than I would've been; but when I look at what I should be, I fall short.

Yet in this section of scripture, there is some incredible good news. The God who calls me to be in His image, the God, I too often fail  - IS gracious and compassionate, and generous and just - it is the very character of God who offers me grace when I fall short. He is kind; He is merciful; He understands my condition, and He wants to help. He is a just God so He has to stand for what is right.  In His generosity and grace -  He poured out judgment on His Son, Jesus Christ so that I may be forgiven. So even as God calls me to be a righteous person in His own image, because of Who He is - extends to me - His grace, through Jesus Christ. Psalm 111: 9 says: " He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever."

Though I fall short, it is never too late to make the next effort. It is never too late to try to actually live into the life that God is calling me to live here. I need to put aside any anemic view of Christianity, any view that what God is doing in my life is powerless to actually change me.

There is a gospel of forgiveness; a gospel of the power of the Holy Spirit that talks about me being able to live a new life and actually bring joy to the heart of God, be the righteous person He intended me to be; I can enjoy the security and strength of living in that walk with God. Some things in life take real change. It is never too late to start on that change.

God, I know that I fall short. I know that I need forgiveness. Lord, I also know that You are the one ultimately Who makes me secure. So now Lord, move in me, work in me so that I might continue the journey of becoming like You.