"Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His offspring 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 for ever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered for ever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever;
his horn is exalted in honour.
10 The wicked man sees it and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
the desire of the wicked will perish!"
Psalm 112
The emphasis in 6-8 is surely the stability that godliness of life imparts. One recalls the words of the hymn, 'Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed'. Maclaren comments, 'The heart that delights in God's established commandments is established by them, and, sooner or later, will look in calm security on the fading away of all evil things and men, while it rests indeed, because it rests in God. He who builds his transient life on and into the Rock of Ages wins rocklike steadfastness, and some share in the perpetuity of his Refuge. Lives rooted in God are never uprooted.' Spurgeon has a characteristic summing up of the substance of 7: 'The waves: 'evil tidings'; the steady ship: 'he shall not be afraid': the anchor: 'his heart is fixed, trusting': the anchorage: in the Lord.' And with all, as we see in 9, the godly man will come out 'at the other side' of the storm, strong and unchanged and unscathed - still generous-spirited and still beneficent. The Psalm ends (10) with a brief glimpse of how different it all is with the ungodly. What Maclaren calls 'The crumbling schemes and disappointed hopes which gnaw the life of the man whose aims go athwart God's will' are seen in all their pathos and sadness in this final verse. How dark, how very dark, is life without God.