Psalm 112: Trusting

Psalm 112 is written in the same acrostic style as Psalm 111, each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 11 verses, 22 lines, one theme. But there is more than writing style that connects these two psalms. The first shows the character of God behind all His works, the second the character of the person that lives from God’s Word. Some commentators have said that these psalms are mirrors of each other, revealing how God’s image was meant to be reflected in man’s character. While these psalms are short, they are rich with many truths to teach, but there is one thought that I cannot seem to see beyond in them, if God is indeed trustworthy as Psalm 111:7 says, then are we actively trusting Him as Psalm 112:7 calls? 

The last lines of Psalm 111, before the final exclamation of praise, say, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” The fear of the LORD is a topic frequently written of in Scripture but much less frequently talked about in our current Christian culture. We often quote I John 4:18a, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” I think that our use of this verse has caused us to be afraid of talking about the fear of the LORD. We may have allowed our cultural desire to be free from any boundary, even those that exist to protect us, those that we were created to be held by, to give negative definitions to things that have the most positive of purposes. 

Also in I John 4, the apostle wrote “love comes from God” and twice that “God is love”. God Himself is the perfect love that casts out our fear, but what fear is it that is being cast out? John continued in 4:18, “For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” In our redemption there is no more fear. Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), He defeated Satan and sin at the cross (Colossians 2:15). Through salvation we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is in us and as R.C. Sproul often said, our war with God is over. There is nothing left to be afraid of and yet God deserves, and His Word seems to demand that He be feared. 

What does it mean to fear the LORD? Before we try to define it, let us remember what Psalm 111 said about it, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” This is not the only place this is written. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge”. Proverbs 9:10 echoes Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”. Psalm 34:11 calls, “Come, O children, listen to me; and I will teach you to fear the LORD.” Deuteronomy 6, considered by many to be the most important single chapter of the Pentateuch, begins with Moses telling Israel that the reason God gave them His commandments, statutes and ordinance and instructed him to teach them was, “that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.” The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge and the source of understanding. Perfect love does indeed cast out all fear, but love cannot be perfected without the fear of the LORD. 

We see throughout Scripture that the fear of the LORD leads to obedience, to submission, to yieldedness, more than anything else, the fear of the LORD leads to trust. So, the fear of the LORD is not trembling with doubt, it is not waiting for Him to drop the other shoe, it is not living on spiritual eggshells and never knowing what the outcome will be or where you stand. The fear of the LORD is trembling because there is no doubt that the LORD is with us. It is knowing without a doubt that God does not drop shoes, He hides His children under the shadow of His wings. It is believing that we never have to tip-toe, but rather we come boldly to the throne of grace because God holds us in His hands, and we cannot be plucked out. We do not just know where we stand, we know that He stands with us. The fear of the LORD is not being afraid of what He might do but being convinced of who He is because of what He has done. The fear of the LORD is reverence, its worship, its confidence, again, more than anything else, the fear of the LORD is trust. 

How did I get to that conclusion? Psalm 112:1 seems to build off Psalm 111:10. This psalm begins with the same exclamation as the last, “Praise the LORD!” (Hallelujah) But then, rather than telling us about who God is, it tells us about the man who knows God already, “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments.” The person who fears the LORD does not just read the Word, does not just memorize the Word, does not just quote the Word, he delights in the Word, what does that mean? The Hebrew word in this instance means “to incline to”, it can literally mean “to bend” and figuratively “to be pleased with, desire”. I love the literal definitions. The one who fears the LORD is the one who inclines and bends his life to match God’s Word. Rather than trying to see what we can get from God’s Word, he works to make sure his heart, his thoughts, his words and his actions, his total life, line up with God’s Word. Rather than God’s Word being his motivation for the day, his food for the journey or his love letter from God, it has become his measuring stick to carefully line up who he is with who God is, so that his character will match God’s image. 

Verses 2 and 3 give us some generational promises for those that fear the LORD. In verse 4 the psalmist describes this person to us further, “he is gracious, merciful and righteous.” Psalm 111:3-4 tell us that God is righteous, gracious and merciful. The fear of the LORD conforms us to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29), it changes and transforms us, it makes God’s Word a higher standard than our feelings and a truer truth than our opinions, beliefs or traditions. The fear of the LORD shows us the heart of the LORD through the Word of the LORD. But the greatest way we show our change is through our trust. 

Then verse 7 gives my favorite description of the one who fears the LORD, “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm trusting in the LORD.” The fear of the LORD keeps us from fearing anything else. David wrote it this way in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Jesus said it this way, when being arrested and Peter tried to fight for Him in his fear, “Put your sword in its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given Me?” (John 18:11) The fear of the LORD does not exclude us from bad news, it does not promise good news, it keeps our hearts trusting in God’s heart during any and all news. 

The key to this is the word “trusting”. I talk to a lot of people that tell me that they trust the Lord as if it is a past tense, settled, finished truth. We tend to do that with a lot of biblical words. We are saved, redeemed, healed, sanctified, etc. These are finished works, facts, accomplished outcomes. And yet, the Bible speaks of those who are being redeemed, being sanctified, working out their salvation, those that have a promise that will not be broken but still in the midst of a process that is not yet finished. “Being saved” does not mean that it is still up in the air, that something might still cause it to fail, but that we are still learning to walk in the fullness of salvation. The same is true of trust. Those who fear the LORD are trusting God, step by step, day by day, feeling by feeling, fear by fear, good news and bad news, they are growing in the work of applying the truth they know about God’s character to the circumstances they are currently facing. 

So, I will ask you today, are you trusting God’s heart in your current season? Are you applying God’s character to your heart? Are you actively remembering His goodness, His mercy and His grace? Are you confessing the places of fear, worry and discontent? Are you willing to believe that what feels like trouble is actually truth finding its way into your heart? That is what trusting feels like, it is the active battle between worship and worry, faithfulness and fear, comfort, and contentment. It challenges our flesh to change our mindset from being in situations where we must trust God to being a people who get to trust God, not because we have no power of our own, but because He has all the power we will ever need. Fearing God is not being so afraid of Him that you choose obedience, it is trusting so fully in Him that you fear nothing.