The Heart's Cry: Psalm 112

Psalm 112

Today I would like to look at one particular verse in this Psalm and then focus on three verses from the Sermon on the Mount. I want to do this because there is a vast difference between expecting our lives to look a certain way based on various scriptures and living our lives based on Jesus's teachings.

So we will start with the following verse:

Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever. 112:3

This Psalm is one of blessing on the righteous followers of God, and it says that the righteous will have certain things in their lives [they will not fear evil, they will never be moved, their descendants will continue to dwell in the same land], and even certain things after their lives are over [that the will never be forgotten], but verse 3 seems to fly in the face of something Jesus will say later. The fact of the matter is that wealth does not automatically stem from righteousness, you can be extremely wealthy and very unrighteous, you can be extremely righteous and have absolutely nothing.

Unfortunately things like the prosperity gospel have sprung up and convinced a segment of the population that should they follow Jesus he will in turn bless them monetarily and materially, this is not how it works. I could use quite a few Gospel scriptures to prove my point, but I think that the obvious place to begin is the Sermon on the Mount, more specifically Matthew 6:19-21:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Let's begin at the end of these verses, where your treasure is, will be where your heart is as well. In other words if you have a lot of worldly wealth then your heart will be very firmly in the world, concerned with keeping your wealth and expanding your wealth. Incidentally if your heart is focused on your wealth it will not be focused on things of eternal meaning. And things of eternal meaning is where Jesus would prefer your heart to be focused. So Jesus asks us to forget about the worldly wealth and focus on the heavenly kind instead, knowing that both the kingdom and ourselves will be better off.

+ What do you consider your wealth?

+ How has God blessed you on your faith journey, materially and/or eternally?