I’ve read Psalm 112 a bunch of times this week and, each time, found different encouragement in it.
112 talks of the righteous man: the man/woman who fears the Lord, who delights in His Word and whose hope and heart and trust is placed in Him.
The psalmist paints a glowing picture of the righteous man. He’s gracious, merciful and righteous, his generations are blessed, his offspring are mighty, wealth and riches are in his house. He deals generously with others and carries justice with him. He sees need and responds to it. He’s steadfast. Heck…he’s lots of good things.
I’m often a fair distance from many of those characteristics yet this psalm tells me they are clearly evident in the righteous man. He has a Godly perspective; he hears bad news but his heart is firm, he trusts in the Lord. The work of God in the life of the righteous man changes things. It doesn’t change circumstance, but it changes the foundation from which we see our circumstance.
This morning I read it Psalm 112 again. I also happened to be reading Colossians 2 and saw the psalm in a completely different way.
Jesus is God’s righteousness revealed. He is our righteousness. He stands before us to present us faultless before the presence of God’s glory. The good news is that God looks at our brokenness and sin and sees Jesus: His righteousness and holiness.
Everything the psalmist writes of the righteous man, is fulfilled completely in Jesus. And His righteousness covers my sin.
Does that mean I can’t enjoy the joy of the righteous man? Not at all. As I’m formed in Christ and I delight in Him, as I walk in Him and am rooted and established in Him (as Paul writes in Colossians 2), I’m formed into His likeness. It’s not a self-righteousness, it’s a Jesus-righteousness imputed to me by His grace.
As you read Psalm 112, I pray you recognise the work He’s doing in you already, but also see the work He wants to do as you anchor your life in Christ, His Word and His Father.