Psalm 112:1 - Fear and obedience

Praise the Lord.

Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
     who find great delight in his commands.

The two blog entries before yesterday sort of went together. Yesterday and today's entries go together as well. Yesterday we learned that the fear of the Lord and obedience bring wisdom and understanding. Psalm 112 is all about other blessings that come with fearing the Lord and obeying his commands, as well as being generous to the poor. The list includes wealth, riches, enduring righteousness, good, never being shaken, not fearing bad news, and more. The Lord loves us so much and looks for ways to bless us when we are following him faithfully.

Lord, thank you for your generous gifts. Please help us to fear you and obey your commands. Amen.

Psalm 49:16 - You can't take it with you

Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
     when the splendor of their houses increases;

Verse 17 completes the thought above "for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them." (I just saw the word "descend", hmmm) Sometimes I have trouble with jealousy. By the standards of the world, I am rich. By the standards of America, lower middle class. For a while I felt rich, we were out of debt and even had a pretty big emergency fund. Now we are back in debt again, Yuck. It is hard to not be overawed and jealous of those with more than you, but we have to remember, this earth is temporary. It will all go away. It is our relationship with God, not our possessions which will determine our eternal destination.

Lord, thank you for reminding us of the temporary nature of this world. Please help us to not be overawed when others grow rich. Amen.

Genesis 12:20

Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Abram had acquired a great deal of wealth while he was in Egypt thanks to his deception and his beautiful wife. The fact that he leaves Egypt with all that wealth makes me think God used Abrams folly to provide him with wealth which he would need to build a nation.

Lord, I know that all things work together for good for those that love you. Please use the good and bad in my life to bring about your purposes. Amen.