Blessed is the Obedient Man

Ps 112:1, “Praise ye the Lord.  Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments”.

It’s the fear of the Lord that compels a man to keep the Lord’s commandments.  At first, you keep his commandments just because he said so.  You fear him and what might happen if you don’t obey him.

But in time, you begin to realize something.  His commandments are not grievous, 1 Jn 5:3.  There is a resistance to do what we’re told, initially, until we realize that doing what we’re told isn’t hard.  Obeying God is not a “chore”.

And as you grow in your love for God, you grow in your desire to keep his commandments. You want to do what he says. Pleasing God becomes a strong desire.  You want him to tell you what to do.

And then you learn that his commandments are actually good for you. You personally benefit from doing what he commands.  Your relationship with the Lord improves, your knowledge of his word grows, your wisdom increases, and even your health and attitude are positively affected.  At this point, you’re willingly serving the Lord joyfully and looking forward to hearing his commands so that you can do them.  You delight greatly in his commandments.

This is when you fully understand that the man “that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his commandments” is blessed.  Like Pastor David Haveman preached when he was here, “You’ll never be closer to the presence of God than when you are obeying his commandments”.  And that’s the blessing.