Psalm 112:4 – “Grace-Changes”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

⁴In the darkness light will rise to the upright ones,

    Gracious and compassionate and righteous.

In my last post, I lauded the wonder of God’s light and how much I enjoy it. This time I want to notice to whom this light is given. It is to the “upright ones, gracious and compassionate and righteous.”

What is particularly notable to me is to stop and consider that these four adjectives occur together. First of all, what does our culture teach us to expect of the “upright and righteous?” They are, of course, self-righteous, judgmental, mean-spirited, cold-hearted people who hate everyone and everything. Right? Uhhhh, excuse me? How about “gracious and compassionate?” Here I go, headed for my soap box. This twisted perception of the godly is no doubt first of all the work of the Adversary but it is endlessly fueled by our misguided Christian propensity to exalt Pharisees. Yes, Pharisees. Those are the people who say all the right things at the right times, who show up at church looking sharp (for every service), carrying their Bibles, volunteering for every ministry, who are prepared to fight to the death for all the right doctrines, and who arduously protect our precious traditions. Never mind there isn’t the slightest hint of the love of Jesus in their hearts … and certainly not in their mouths.

Folks, they’re called Pharisees and they were Jesus’ most bitter enemies. They are not our friends and they certainly should not be our leaders. People like Jesus should be the Christians we admire. People like Jesus should be our leaders. People like Jesus are upright and righteous and gracious and compassionate.

I am of course crowing at the streetlight. We humans are incorrigibly legalistic and will never recognize legalists until we repent of the legalism in our own hearts. We need to truly embrace grace before we can be truly gracious, and only when our own hearts are gracious will we be quick to detect the lack of it in others. Only then will we stop exalting Pharisees to leadership, which is what perpetuates the perception that godliness = meanness. Yes, Pharisees look good on the outside. But their hearts are rotten and they ought never be allowed in leadership.

Off soapbox. Real godliness does not equal meanness. Real godliness = Jesus.

In contrast to all of that, we can return to the underlying thesis of this entire Psalm, that, in fact, “the people who know their God” will become more and more like Him. This verse is case-in-point. In Psalm 111:4, the psalmist praised the Lord because He is gracious and compassionate. Now in 112:4 we find the same said of the godly man. This is more of the wonder of grace righteousness. Practically any religion aims to make people “righteous” and “upright,” but, as we all know, “religion” also typically makes people insufferable bigots. Only grace makes people upright and righteous and gracious and compassionate. Grace never says, “Here are the rules. Now follow them.” That endeavor is precisely what produces the arrogance. Grace is the heart of Jesus calling to people “Come unto Me all who are weary …” Grace captures the hearts of the Marys of this world and draws them to sit at Jesus’ feet and fall completely in love with Him. Grace draws us into a love relationship with our God where we see for ourselves what real love is, what forgiveness is, what it means to be loved unconditionally. Grace makes us want to be like Him and changes us forever.

And so it is true that a godly person will be upright, gracious, compassionate, and righteous – not because they’re doing “a good job,” but because “their eyes have seen the King.”

I love this whole thing of knowing God, and this thought before us is one of the huge reasons why – because, as I seek to know Him better, to understand the Bible and what He says and thinks and how He sees the world, He makes me better. He makes my world make sense. He helps me be the person my heart knows I ought to be – and not because I try hard or do “a good job” but purely and only because Grace changes me. Grace makes me better. “Religion” only makes people mean. Grace-changes are fueled by grace and accomplished by grace, and no matter what “better” may mean, it is always attended by graciousness.