1. Praise ye the Lord. This exhortation is never given too often; the Lord always
deserves praise, we ought always to render it, we are frequently forgetful of
it, and it is always well to be stirred up to it. The exhortation is addressed
to all thoughtful people who observe the way of life of those who fear the
Lord. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, the Lord should have all
the glory of it, for we are his workmanship. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm
111:10); this man, therefore, has begun to be wise, and wisdom has brought him
present happiness, and secured him eternal felicity. Jehovah is so great that
he is to be feared and had in reverence of all them that are round about him,
and he is at the same time so infinitely good that the fear is sweetened into
filial love, and becomes a delightful emotion, by no means engendering bondage.
That delighteth greatly in his commandments. This man not only studies
the divine precepts and endeavors to observe them, but rejoices to do so:
holiness is his happiness, devotion is his delight, truth is his treasure. He
rejoices in the precepts of godliness; indeed he rejoices greatly in
them. We have known hypocrites to rejoice in the doctrines, but never in the commandments.
Ungodly people may in some measure obey the commandments out of fear, but only
a gracious person will observe them with delight.
2. His soul shall be mighty upon earth; that is to say, successive generations of God-fearing
people will have dominion. The true seed of the righteous are those who follow
them in their virtues, just as believers are the seed of Abraham, because they
imitate his faith; and these are the real heroes of their era, the truly great;
their lives are sublime, and their power upon their age is far greater than at
first sight appears. If the promise must be regarded as alluding to natural
descendants, it must be understood as a general statement rather than a promise
made to every individual, for the children of the godly are not all prosperous,
nor all famous. Nevertheless, he who fears God and leads a holy life is, as a
rule, doing the best he can for the future advancement of his house; no
inheritance is equal to that of an unblemished name, no legacy can excel the
benediction of a saint; and, taking matters for all in all, the children of the
righteous man commence life with greater advantage than others, and are more
likely to succeed in it, in the best and highest sense. The generation of
the upright shell be blessed. The race of sincere, devout, righteous people
is kept up from age to age, and ever abides under the blessing of God. The
godly may be persecuted, but they will not be forsaken; human curses cannot
deprive them of the blessing of God, for the words of Balaam are true, “He
hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.” Their children also are under the
special care of heaven, and as a rule it will be found that they inherit the
divine blessing. To fear God and walk uprightly is a higher nobility than birth
can bestow.
3. Wealth and riches shell be in his house. Understood literally this is rather a promise of the old
covenant than of the new, for many of the best of the people of God are very
poor; yet it has been found true that uprightness is the road to success, and
all other things being equal the honest person is the rising person. Many are
kept poor through knavery and profligacy; but godliness has the promise of the
life that now is. If we understand the passage spiritually it is abundantly
true. What wealth can equal that of the love of God? What riches can rival a
contented heart? It matters nothing that the roof is thatched, and the floor is
of cold stone: the heart which is cheered with the favor of heaven is “rich to
all the intents of bliss.” And his righteousness endureth for ever.
Often when gold comes in the Gospel goes out; but it is not so with the blessed
person. Prosperity does not destroy holiness of life, or humility of heart. The
godly character stands the test of examination, overcomes the temptations of
wealth, survives the assaults of slander, outlives the afflictions of time, and
endures the trial of the last great day. The righteousness of a true saint
endureth forever, because it springs from the same root as the righteousness of
God, and is indeed the reflection of it. So long as the Lord abides righteous,
he will maintain by his grace the righteousness of his people. They will hold
on their way, and wax stronger and stronger. There is also another
righteousness which belong to the Lord’s chosen, which is sure to endure
forever, namely the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus, which is called
“everlasting righteousness,” belonging as it does to the Son of God himself.
4. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. He does not lean to injustice in order to ease himself, but
like a pillar stands erect, and he will be found so standing when the ungodly,
who are as a collapsing wall, lie in ruins. He will have his days of darkness,
he may be sick and poor; his former riches may take wings and fly away, while
even his righteousness may be cruelly suspect; thus the clouds may lower around
him, but his gloom will not last forever; the Lord will bring him light in due
season, for as surely as a good man’s sun goes down it will rise again. If the
darkness be caused by repression of spirit, the Holy Spirit will comfort him;
if by pecuniary loss or personal bereavement, the presence of Christ will be
his solace; and if by human cruelty and malignity, the sympathy of his Lord
will be his support. He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
This is spoken of God in Psalm 111:4, and now the same words are used of his
servant; thus we are taught that when God makes someone upright, he makes that
person like himself. We are at best but humble copies of the great original;
still we are copies, and because we are so we praise the Lord, who has created
us anew in Christ Jesus.
5. He showeth favor, and lendeth. Having passed beyond stern integrity into open-handed
benevolence he looks kindly upon all around him, and finding himself in
circumstances which enable him to spare a little of his wealth he lends
judiciously where a loan will be of permanent service. Providence has made him
able to lend, and grace makes him willing to lend. He is not a borrower, for
God has lifted him above that necessity; neither is he a hoarder, for his new
nature saves him from that temptation; but he wisely uses the talents committed
to him. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Those who neglect
their worldly business must not plead religion as an excuse, for when a man is
truly upright he exercises great care in managing his accounts, in order that
he may remain so. True religion is sanctified common sense. Attention to the
things of heaven does not necessitate the neglect of the affairs of earth; on
the contrary, he who has learned how to transact business with God ought to be
best able to do business with men. The children of this world often are in
their generation wiser than the children of light, but there is no reason why
this proverb should continue to be true.
6. Surely he shall not be moved for ever. God has rooted and established him so that neither men nor
devils will sweep him from his place. His prosperity will be permanent, and not
like that of the gambler and the cheat, whose gains are evanescent; his
reputation will be bright and lustrous from year to year, for it is not a mere
pretense; his home will be permanent, and he will not need to wander from place
to place as a bird that wanders from her nest; and even his memory will be
abiding, for a good person is not soon forgotten, and the righteous shall be
in everlasting remembrance. They are of a most ancient family, and not
mushrooms of an hour, and their grand old stock will be found flourishing when
all the proud houses of the ungodly have faded into nothing. The righteous are
worth remembering, their actions are of the kind which record themselves, and
God himself takes charge of their memorials. None of us like being forgotten,
yet the only way to avoid it is to be righteous before God.
7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. He will have no dread that evil tidings will come, and he
will not be alarmed when they do come. Rumors and reports he despises;
prophecies of evil he ridicules; verified information of distress he bears with
equanimity, resigning everything into the hands of God. His heart is fixed,
trusting in the Lord. He is
neither fickle nor cowardly; when he is undecided as to his course he is still
fixed in heart: he may change his plan, but not the purpose of his soul. His
heart being fixed in solid reliance upon God, a change in his circumstances but
slightly affects him; faith has made him firm and steadfast, and therefore if
the worst should come to the worst, he would remain quiet and patient, waiting
for the salvation of God.
8. His heart is established. His love to God is deep and true, his confidence in God is
firm and unmoved; his courage has a firm foundation, and is supported by
omnipotence. He has become settled by experience, and confirmed by years. He is
not a rolling stone, but a pillar in the house of the Lord. He shall not be
afraid. He is ready to face any adversary—a holy heart gives a brave face. Until
he see his desire upon his enemies. All through the conflict, even till he
seizes the victory, he is devoid of fear. When the battle wavers, and the
result seems doubtful, he nevertheless believes in God, and is a stranger to
dismay. Grace makes him desire his enemies’ good: though nature leads him to
wish to see justice done to his cause, he does not desire for those who injure
him anything by way of private revenge.
9. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor. What he received, he distributed, and distributed to those
who most needed it. He was God’s reservoir, and forth from his abundance flowed
streams of liberality to supply the needy. If this be one of the marks of a man
who fears the Lord, there are some who are strangely destitute of it. They are
great at gathering, but very slow at dispersing; they enjoy the blessedness of
receiving, but seldom taste the greater joy of giving. “It is more blessed to
give than to receive”—perhaps they think that the blessing of receiving is
enough for them. His righteousness endureth for ever. His liberality has
salted his righteousness, proved its reality, and secured its perpetuity. This
is the second time that we have this sentence applied to the godly man, and it
must be understood as resulting from the enduring mercy of the Lord. The
character of a righteous man is not spasmodic; he is not generous by fits and
starts, nor upright in a few points only; his actions flow from settled, sure,
and fixed convictions, and therefore his integrity is maintained when others
fail. He is not turned about by companions, nor affected by the customs of
society; he is resolute, determined, and immovable. His horn shall be
exalted with honor. God will honor him, and even the wicked will feel an
unconscious reverence of him. Let it be observed, in summing up the qualities
of the God-fearing man, that he is described not merely as righteous, but as
one bearing the character to which Paul refers as “a good man.” Kindness,
benevolence, and generosity are essential to the perfect character; to be
strictly just is not good enough, for God is love, and we must act upon those
same principles of grace which reign in the heart of God. The promises of
prosperity are to souls who have proved their fitness to be stewards of the
Lord by the right way in which they use their substance.
10. This
verse sets forth very forcibly the contrast between the righteous and the
ungodly, thus making the blessedness of the godly appear all the more
remarkable. Usually we see the blessing and the curse set one over against the
other, to invest both with the greater solemnity. The wicked shall see it,
and be grieved. The ungodly will first see the example of the saints to
their own condemnation, and will at last behold the happiness of the godly to
the increase of their eternal misery. The child of wrath will fret and fume,
but will not be able to prevent it, for God’s blessing is sure and effectual. He
shall gnash with his teeth. Being very wrathful, and exceedingly envious,
he would grind the righteous between his teeth; but as he cannot do that, he
grinds his teeth against each other. And melt away. The heat of his
passion will melt him like wax, and the sun of God’s providence will dissolve
him like snow, and at the last the fire of divine vengeance will consume him as
the fat of rams. How horrible must that life be which like the snail melts as it
proceeds, leaving a slimy trail behind. Those who are grieved at goodness
deserve to be worn away by such an abominable sorrow. The desire of the
wicked shall perish. He shall not achieve his purpose; he will die a
disappointed man. By wickedness he hoped to accomplish his purpose—that very
wickedness will be his defeat. While the righteous will endure forever, and
their memory will be always green, the ungodly and his name will rot from off
the face of the earth.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
