"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth forever." "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in His commandments."
Psalm 111:10-112:1
Part 2
Yesterday: The Fear of the Lord Is Where Wisdom Begins
“The fear of the LORD.”
“Is the beginning of wisdom.”
“A good understanding.”
“Have all they that do His commandments.”
“His praise endureth forever.”
Today: The Person Who Fears the Lord Is Blessed!
“Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in His commandments” (Psalm 112:1).
Yesterday we saw that the beginning point for gaining wisdom starts with a proper fear of God. Without embracing this first ideal, “the fear of the Lord,” no other wisdom can be gleaned. The growth is stunted. Indeed, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Today let’s see that it is the “blessed man” who fears the Lord.
“Each individual is moved inwardly by reverential fear, issuing outwardly in delighted obedience” [1] (NBC).
“Praise ye the LORD.”
This is the second of the three “Hallelujah Psalms.” Psalm 111, 112, 113 all begin with the same Hebrew word – Hallelujah! Which translates to our English “praise the Lord!”
Whoever is fearing and loving the Lord ought to be praising Him. David said –
“I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high” (Psalm 7:17).
“I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).
“Blessed is the man.”
The blessed man is the one who is pleased to be serving His Lord. Living to glorify our Lord brings an inner joy that a lost worldling can never know. Indeed, blessed is the man who is living all out for God.
“Building on the end of the previous psalm, this verse says that one who fears the Lord and delights in His Law is blessed (cf. 1:1–2)” [2] (BKC).
“The secret and source of all true happiness and prosperity is the fear of Jehovah, which leads to a cheerful and thorough obedience to His commandments” [3] (Cambridge Bible).
Matthew Henry shares his wise words on the subject.
“The blessedness of the righteous. We have to praise the Lord that there are a people in the world, who fear Him and serve Him, and that they are a happy people, which is owing entirely to His grace. Their fear is not that which love casts out but that which love brings in. It follows and flows from love” [4] (Matthew Henry).
“That feareth the LORD.”
As we saw yesterday, “True fear produces obedience and this, happiness” [5] (JFB).
“The fear the Bible is talking about is best described as a profound reverence; that is, we are to revere God, or stand in awe of Him” [6] (Boice, in EWC).
“The one who fears the Lord honors, trusts, worships and obeys Him” [7] (CSB).
This is impossible for the rebel heart. For the man who loves himself and is captivated with his own thinking will never give God His due reverence. Sadly, without God’s intervention and grace, this will seal his doom.
But the man who loves and fears God is the man –
“That delighteth greatly in his commandments.”
“The blessed man” is not fearing God in the sense of suffering and having to do an unwilling responsibility. No, he is delighting greatly in his Lord’s commandments. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
“It is not enough to fear God, we must also love him: fear will deter us from evil; love will lead us to obedience. And the more a man fears and loves God, the more obedient will he be; till at last he will delight greatly in the commandments of his Maker” [8] (Clarke).
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2).
“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8).
“Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight” (Psalm 119:35).
Dear Lord, thank you for your grace that allows sinners like us to love and serve you. We love you, Lord Jesus, glory and praise be to your name! Amen.
Quote: “Think of the great measure of blessedness upon Jesus. No one revered God the Father as Jesus did; no one delighted in the Father’s commandments as much as Jesus did” [9] (Guzik, EWC).
[1] NBC, Motyer, J. A. (1994). The Psalms. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st-century edition (4th ed., pp. 561–562). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[2] BKC, Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 874–875). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. The emphasis is theirs.
[3] Cambridge Bible, the electronic Bible notes in eSword.
[4] Henry, M., & Scott, T. (1997). Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Ps 111:1–112:1). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems. The emphasis is his.
[5] JFB, Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 381). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[6] EWC, Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[7] CSB, Warstler, K. R. (2017). Psalms. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 918). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. The emphasis is theirs.
[8] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Psalm 112:1.
[9] EWC, Enduring Word Commentary, ibid.