Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. — Psalm 112:1
There is not much that scares my son. Since we adopted him in China, he has loved every moment of life. Even with things that typically scare most kids, he usually faces them without any hesitation. But in the few times he has been scared, there’s one thing that is evident. His happy demeanor leaves. At that moment, he is not happy at all.
Truthfully, we would probably all admit that in times of fear, our happiness leaves. I think of the many times I have witnessed people face sickness, circumstances, or other things in life where the outcome was unknown. Maybe they weren’t sure what was going to happen tomorrow, and very few of them were overly happy about that fear.
But in this verse of Psalm, it seems that the psalmist is sharing we can find happiness in fear. He is not talking about the fear of the circumstances we face. This is not the fear of the wickedness of our world. Instead, it is the fear of an almighty God who is in control of all things.
In the original text, the word “blessed” is ‘esher. This means happiness, or how happy. To the one who fears the Lord, they are happy. They are not living in fear of anything except the almighty God. They realize He is in control and able to take care of whatever they need.
When our faith and trust are in God, we do not have to fear what this world may bring. The storms of this life may rage. The winds may blow, the rain may fall, but there is nothing that can stop our God! Fear God, and you can truly find happiness in fear.
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