On Father’s Day, my music pastor read Psalm 112 from the pulpit and pointed it out as a complement to Proverbs 31.  Ps. 112 is a description of the man who fears the Lord.  Verse 4 describes the God-fearing man as “gracious and compassionate and righteous.”  As I read Ps. 116 a few days later, the description of the Lord jumped out at me: verse 5 says “Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.”  The exact same three words describe both the Lord and the man who fears Him.  Fearing the Lord results in being like Him – reflecting His image.  What do those three words mean?  “Gracious” refers to the way God shows favor to us – undeserved and unexpectedly, a real gift from the heart.  “Righteous” means meeting all your obligations – “doing right” by everyone with whom you interact.  “Compassionate” is a really powerful word – the Hebrew word here is related to the word for “womb” and it paints the picture of all the tenderness and gentleness and love that a mother has for her newborn baby.  These all describe God’s character and His actions toward His people, but they also characterize the man who fears God.  Fearing Him results in being like Him.

The other day I was reading Psalm 83 and I found it quite interesting that all the people named in Ps. 83.6 who made a covenant against the Lord are people He made a promise to!!!  In Deuteronomy 2, I just read about the promises He made to Edom and Moab – promises that He kept by telling Israel not to conquer them.  And Ishmaelites/Hagarenes are the descendents of Hagar (Ishmael) to whom the Lord also promised a great lineage in Genesis 16.10.  Isn’t it sad when people for whom the Lord has made special provision turn against Him?  Before we are quick to point a finger at Edom and the Ishmaelites, we who are Christians ought to examine our lives in the mirror of God’s Word here in Ps. 83.  Has God made special promises to His people?  Of course He has!  Promises of complete forgiveness, of peace in Christ, of His constant presence, and many more!  But we often turn our faces against Him.  We don’t make a tangible covenant per se, but we scorn His promises when we choose our way instead of His.  Our God has promised to love us faithfully, but we choose to gossip about them or treat them harshly when we want to serve ourselves instead.  Our God has promised us that He works in us to desire and to do His good pleasure, but we indulge the lusts of our flesh so frequently and boldly.  Our God has promised that He will come again for us, but we are consumed with the cares and worries of the world and we really couldn’t care less if He came today or not.  How foolish and selfish of us!  Let us instead turn our eyes above, thinking on the gracious promises of the Lord, and then order our lives properly under His Holy authority.  He deserves our loyalty because He has so wonderfully promised His loyalty to us.