Psa 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!

In an earlier psalm, Psalm 109, the psalmist cursed the wicked. In this psalm, he blessed the righteous. Before this psalm, the psalmist has concluded that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Psalm 111:10). Here, the practice of the righteous is stated. What does the righteous man do that makes him righteous? 1. He delights in God’s commandments (v.1). 2. He brings up godly children (v.2). 3. He is prudent with money (v.3). 4. He is gracious, and full of compassion (v.4). 5. He is kind and generous (v.5a). 6. He is honest in his work (v.5b). 7. He is not bothered by bad events because he trusts in God (v.7). 8. He is confident and courageous (v.8). 9. He is benevolent (v.9). Righteous people are people who do righteousness. It is important that God’s people are righteous and are people who do righteousness because righteousness is what will rule in eternity. The Scripture says concerning the rule of the eternal kingdom of God: “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8). The sceptre is an ensign of royalty; and a sceptre of righteousness, or rightness, is expressive of the justice of government. Righteousness is an essential attribute to the character of God. God loves righteousness (Hebrews 1:9a) and therefore His kingdom is founded in righteousness. The Scripture says the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9). It implies only the righteous will inherit the kingdom of God.  We see hence there are benefits in living righteous living. David concurs: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1). Righteous people do not walk with sinners. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly – The type of counsel mentioned here is not the professional counsel from experts. We certainly can seek counsel from people in the medical field about health and illness. We can seek counsel from engineers on things related to their fields. But Christians are not to seek counsel from a world view when it comes to morality. For example: Do not seek the world view on marriage, sexuality, drinking, abortion, gambling, etc. The source of righteousness lies in God who is righteous. And, the righteous man finds his will to do righteousness from a proper attitude of God and His word: “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (v.1). Find a man who truly fears God and His word and you find a righteous man. The beginning of righteousness is found in a proper fear, a holy reverence for God and also His word. We see that to be righteous takes effort. The tendency for men is to sin: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8). So, to be righteous, one must pursue it: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. When we are hungry and thirsty, we look for food. And the reason we are not righteous is because we are not hungry and thirsty for it. The result is we continue to live in sin. Do you have a reverential fear of God? Do you respect His commandments? Only the ones who fear God and keep His commandments will live righteously: “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).