the heart as it is | courage • grief • beauty

Some of recent reflections in my scripture readings lately:

The first one is from the entire Psalm 112 (which is Psalm 111 in the Orthodox Study Bible), as so much of it stands out to me:

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord;
He will delight exceedingly in His commandments;
His seed shall be might on earth;
The generation of the upright shall be blessed;
Glory and riches shall be in his house,
And his righteousness continues unto ages of ages.
For the upright, light springs up in darkness,
For he is merciful, compassionate, and righteous.
A good man is compassionate and lends;
He will manage his words with judgment.
For he shall be unshaken forever;
A righteous man shall be in everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid because of an evil report;
His heart is prepared to hope in the Lord.
His heart is established; he is not afraid
As he surveys his enemies.
He dispersed; he gave to the poor;
His righteousness continues unto ages of ages;
His horn shall be exalted with glory.
The sinner shall see this, and be angry;
He shall gnash his teeth, and be consumed;
The desire of sinners shall perish.

Psalm 111

The very first thing that stood out to me from this passage of scripture is that the person who fears the Lord and who is considered upright and righteous by the author of this psalm is characterized as being merciful and compassionate. Maybe it’s just the connotation of the word “righteous” I’ve had in the religious circles I’ve grown up in, but it’s refreshing for me to hear an “upright” person have these attributes of mercy and compassion. Usually “righteous” has been associated with “self-righteous” and “legalistic” (subconsciously). Granted, that usually isn’t the goal of people trying to be righteous, but to outsiders, that’s what it can seem at times when there is no truth with love.

Furthermore, the author describes a good person as someone who is compassionate and as someone who lends. Consequently, the inverse proves true: someone who would not be considered ‘good’ by the author would be someone indifferent/heartless and someone who keeps things to themselves. Granted, this doesn’t mean that should over-give or anything. But I think this passage can bring up a nice debate of what is generous and what is over-giving (I do think though that this passage is encouraging genuine generosity, as the passage later continues with “he gave to the poor”). Additionally, the ‘good man’ is wise with his words and manages his words – and I see personally see this as knowing what kinds of words are helpful versus unnecessary/harmful/unkind.

Additionally, the man described as “righteous” is not afraid of an “evil report,” as they know where their hope lies. Disappointingly, while fear is a legitimate and valuable feeling to experience, many Christ followers still live and act out of fear with regards to seemingly “Christian” things (e.g., doing something out of fear of going to hell, afraid they’re not trusting God enough, afraid they’re not following God’s will, etc…). This brings my attention to 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. Realistically, no one is perfect in love as we definitely have moments where we still fear – but living and making decisions from a place of fear vs. from a place of love leads to very different lifestyles. If you happen to be someone or know someone living from a place of fear, know that this does not mean that you are condemned in any way, but the fear is trying to tell you something and I would even argue the fear is God trying to tell you something – be curious about it.

Finally, I really appreciate the part where it says that “the desires of sinner shall perish” because it doesn’t say that the sinner will perish, but that the desire of the sinner will perish. Furthermore, it defines the sinner as someone who is angry at the upright man who is merciful and compassionate, the good man who is generous and who is wise with his words, and the righteous man who does not live from a place of fear but of hope. It is getting rid of that desire, contrary to that of the upright man, that Jesus came for – not to get rid of the sinner.

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This second reflection is from Luke 4:18-19 (OSB), which wasn’t actually in my recent scripture readings, but has been mentioned in church a couple of times lately:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord

From these verses, I mainly want to share that if this is what Jesus came to do, then it is what we as His followers are also called to do – preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, recover sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord (which, in OSB interpretations, meant the time of incarnation which was when the kingdom of Heaven has come to earth). Granted, interpretations may be made about who is actually “oppressed”, “brokenhearted”, and “captive” – and debates about that can go on forever so I’m not going to try to define those here (at least not now). I mainly want to say that there is a lot of liberating going on in this passage, a lot more freeing – and that maybe I will define a bit here. If the people we’re spreading the news about Jesus to don’t feel more free – free from acting upon dysfunction, free from acting upon fears, free from pleasing/confining to empire – then what kind of news are we spreading exactly? (This is a convicting question for me, too).

Anyways thanks for reading this far if you have ! Life has become quite busy as the holidays, advent, and finals have started. I hope to be posting more later next week !