A devotional thought from Psalm 112
Psalm 112
1Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, That delighteth greatly in his commandments. 2His seed shall be mighty upon earth: The generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3Wealth and riches shall be in his house: And his righteousness endureth for ever. 4Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 5A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: He will guide his affairs with discretion. 6Surely he shall not be moved for ever: The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 7He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. 8His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, Until he see his desire upon his enemies. 9He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; His righteousness endureth for ever; His horn shall be exalted with honour. 10The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: The desire of the wicked shall perish.
I had never noticed it myself, the family walk, but I have it.
A friend was picking on me in a driver’s ed class as I approached, he started wobbling side to side and said that he was pretending to be me.
It was then that I realized, “I walk like my dad.”
Every now and then I notice my sons wobbling side to side as they go too!
My boys have the family walk too!
I am pretty sure my Papaw Jack started it, but he had an excuse for not fully utilizing his knees, he had owned a furniture moving business and all that heavy lifting had ruined them. So why do the rest of us walk that way? Well, I’m pretty sure that subconsciously my dad wanted to be like his dad, and then I wanted to do the same. I reckon my boys learned to walk from me.
So, if we are ever together, my dad, my sons, and I look for our unintentional tribute to a great man as we all wobble by your way.
I believe this feature of my family illustrates Psalm 112
Psalm 111 and 112 go together well. They share the same size and say some of the same things. They are both acrostic psalms which is not evident in English but untranslated each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Look at what Derrick Kidner wrote about Psalm 112 and its relation to Psalm 111.
“it is the second of a closely linked pair, both of them acrostics…the first about God and his ways, and the second about the man of God. There are moments when the two portraits coincide completely; and the present psalm can be viewed as a development of the last verse of its predecessor, on the blessedness of fearing the Lord.”[1]
He points out the similarities but also the one major difference, Psalm 111 is about God and the next one about his people. The similarities originated with the Father. This is the Holy Spirit’s work within each and every believer, to conform us into the image of the Lord.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
I heard a preacher tell of a man that walked the streets of Europe and saw an unusual sight, a beautiful woman posed with arm upstretched in the middle of a park. “Why is she standing like that?” he asked himself as he approached to investigate. When finally near he noticed that a man was chiseling her image from a stone. He looked on as little by little the woman appeared from behind the rough edges of that rock.
Is that not what is happening to each of our Lord’s followers?
The Holy Spirit of God is removing the rough edges and conforming us into the image of the Son. There is a family resemblance being revealed in every believer.
So, I hope that when you see us coming that you will witness it, the family walk and that some similarity will be a tribute to our Great God and Father!
Readings for 10/6/20
[1] Kidner, D. (1975). Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 16, p. 433). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
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