Psalm 112 opens with these lines: “Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.” When we find a healthy amount of respect for God and live into His commands, we find our lives blessed.

Often the world looks at blessings as beauty, power or position, a big house or fancy car, and so on. Often the world looks at good health and minimal worries as being blessed. Often the world looks at a successful person as having many of the things listed in the previous two sentences. And God may chose to bless the righteous person in these ways as well.

But sometimes we as Christians expect these material or worldly blessings. We may even question God and doubt our relationship with Him when or if some of these things are missing! But the blessing God brings is not about us. The blessing God promises does not guarantee happiness all the time in this life, just in the eternal.

The wealth and riches that a righteous person receives from God come out of that relationship we have with Him and that gets lived out into our world. In verse 5 we are told that good will come to him who is generous and conducts his affairs with justice. In verse 7 we are told that the righteous man will not be shaken for his heart is steadfast and trusts in the Lord. And in verse 9 we are told that because he scatters his gifts to the poor, the righteousness will endure forever.

Many people around the world are very poor by our standards and they live with little yet they enjoy a deep and lively relationship with God. They have come to fully trust in Him and His provisions for them, no matter how meager their physical world may be. On a basic level they are very content with their lives and deeply know that all they have comes from God. They share freely out of the little they have. They thank God for the littlest of things and for all things.

Sometimes I am almost jealous of their pure faith. Sometimes I wish that I could be as content in all things as they are. So today I seek humility in my contentment. Today I seek to give freely and abundantly to all whom I encounter. Today I seek a pure and simple faith. May it also be with you as it pleases the Lord!!