Advent 2025, Week 1: Psalm 112, Part 1
My wife and I have four children who played a variety of sports through the years. We learned that school athletic departments don’t ask parents for family schedules before arranging the sports calendar. There were sports seasons where we had four kids on four different teams, and sometimes those teams had practice or games all at the same time. Or there were years when we just had two of our four kids still at home, and one was on the boys soccer team at the same time the other was on the girls soccer team. The boys and girls teams had games at the same time, usually one away while the other was home. We told them we’re only going to home games that season. Maybe you know the feeling. Youth sports can be a lot.
Yet, there we were at all those games, hoping our kids made a good pass, trapped the ball efficiently, had an assist, and most of all, scored a goal. We would be there hoping, praying, and super excited when they did well and when their team won. We love our kids and wanted to cheer them on! Which is exactly how we start Advent this year.
This first week of Advent 2025, we are studying one of the Hallel psalms, Psalm 112. Have you ever heard of the Hallel psalms? What does hallel refer to? I bet you know, even if you don’t realize it.
Open a Bible and notice how Psalms 111, 112, and 113 start. “Praise the Lord.” This is the Hebrew “hallelu Yah”.
Psalm 112 begins with that famous phrase: “Praise the Lord.” The word “praise” is the Hebrew “hallel” or “hallelu,” the act of cheering, raising a joyful noise. It is not exclusively a religious or worship service word. You are practicing hallel when you cheer for your favorite sports team.
Hallel become religious when we pair it with the second word, “the Lord.” The word “yah” is the short form of “Yahweh,” the personal name of the one true God. So the word “hallelujah” is actually a phrase, and while it does mean “Praise the Lord,” it is referring to an action, the act of joyful cheering on of God.
It is right and good for church families to gather and sing God’s praises. At each of our worship services, we are doing the work of hallelujah. Again, the word “hallelujah” is not a musical word. Singing praise to God is just one option for how we can cheer God on. We can do so with the spoken word.
I love this particular spoken word cheering on of God:
But it is not just music or preaching. We gather for worship one hour per week, while there are 168 hours each week. We can also praise God with each of the 168 hours of our weeks. How so? As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, do it all to the glory of God.” Followers of Jesus live lives of worship no matter what we do,
That’s just the intro to Psalm 112, “Praise the Lord,” and already we have a powerful principle. Live lives filled with actions and choices that demonstrate a cheering on of God. Compare this to youth sports. We families rearrange our schedules, drive to a variety of schools, and even pay admission to attend our kids’ games. Why? We love our kids and want to cheer them on. It’s a sacrifice, and we love it. How much more should we be sacrificial to cheer the kingdom of God?
After that cheer, the psalmist moves on to the body of his poem, and he writes something that sounds off:
“Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.”
How can the fear of the Lord be a blessing?
We find out in the next post.
Engaging Scripture 