Pastor Fredo Ramos: Psalm one twelve. Praise the Lord. How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. Their children will be successful everywhere. An entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will last forever. Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous. Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly. Such people will not be overcome by evil.
Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news. They confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They share freely and give generously to those in need.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor. The wicked will see this and be infuriated. They will grind their teeth in anger. They will slink away their hopes thwarted.
Psalm one twelve is a prayer that pictures not just God, but specifically the people of God. And the individual who follows God in such a way that their life is remembered by many. We see here someone who, is a light that shines in the darkness. Their life has gone well for them. They deal generously with those, right?
This is a picture of someone who is following God to the degree that their integrity is seen by others. And what, an opportunity for us to reflect now as we imagine the day before us, as we imagine how we might be feeling about our own character or how people view us. What an opportunity we have now in prayer to release the things we can't control about how people view us, but to be reminded about the ability we have to control our own integrity. So that what we say we believe is demonstrated through our actions. Primarily that our faith has works to them.
And that the way that we follow Jesus today is shaped and formed, yes, very much in prayer, but then a kind of prayer that grows hands and feet. Right? To where today becomes an opportunity for you and I to live out our own prayer request, to pray for a godly life and then to embody a godly life. I specifically love verse seven that says, they don't fear bad news. They confidently trust the Lord to care for them.
Man, what an invitation for us to respond now to Jesus in prayer, realizing that today will come with all kinds of news. And you might be feeling some kind of way about it. But what a picture here of the person who has rested in the Lord, has found joy in their obedience to him, and they are so anchored that bad news does not throw them off one way or another. Jesus, we hear you now inviting us in to respond to you in prayer. Maybe first with a confession that we are prone to be shaken by the things that we hear, to be disoriented by the news that comes our way.
But God, pray that our lives beginning today would be one in which we experience joy. We give to others. Our lives are marked with integrity and that we have such a courage in you, such a trust in you that bad news does not lead us to fear, but rather we can learn to navigate it with faith and with obedience. And so Holy Spirit help us to do that today. We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.