Advent, Week 1: Psalm 112, Part 5
How much of your gift-giving this Christmas will be lavishing gifts on people who already have all their needs met? I will love the gifts I receive at Christmas, but I can tell you very honestly that I don’t need a single Christmas gift. I want them. It feels great to open them. New stuff makes us happy, at least temporarily. But so often, our Christmas gift giving is enriching people who are already rich.
Joel, you grinch.
I know. But stay with me here.
In this first week of Advent, we’ve been studying Psalm 112, a wisdom psalm that uses the classic biblical wisdom phrase, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Then in verses 7 and 8 the psalm appears to do a one-hundred eighty degree turn in its use of the word “fear.” Verse 7, “No fear of bad news.” Verse 8, “have no fear.” But in verse 1 we are told to “fear the Lord.” Sounds like a contradiction. They are even all the same Hebrew word. This is, however, not a contradiction. Here’s how.
The psalmist is saying that when you fear the one good thing, you won’t fear bad things. In fact, when you fear the one good thing, you won’t fear anything. He points out that when we fear, respect, and honor God, our hearts will be steadfast (verse 7) and secure (verse 8). These two words, “steadfast” and “secure,” give us the image of a strong, supported, immovable, foundation. God is the foundation. We fear him, we trust in him. He is our strong foundation.
Because we have such a strong trust in him, we can delight in his commands, even in the middle of darkness, by serving others, by reaching out to others in need, being compassionate, gracious, and generous to them.
Notice how the psalmist describes this in verse 9, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.”
“Freely scattered their gifts to the poor.” This verse is not talking about Christmas, but I had to think about the coming Christmas holiday when I read this verse, because of the mention of “their gifts.” I think about all those Christmas gifts around all those Christmas trees. Lots and lots of gifts. Gift giving is a wonderful thing. Christmas embodies the spirit of generosity in this passage.
But notice the recipients of the gifts in verse 9, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor.” The poor are those who truly need our gifts. This is why I pointed out at the beginning of the post the reality that at Christmas we can give gifts to those who don’t need gifts. What if during Christmas, we gave gifts to people in need? What if, instead of giving gifts to each other, husbands and wives give gifts to organizations who do this good work each day? In my community, there is an Alternative Giving Fair, Gifts the Give Hope, at which people can purchase gifts for the loved ones in their lives. Those gifts directly support non-profit organizations doing good work to benefit those in need. Don’t have an Alternative Gift Fair in your community? Start one! Or just connect with local organizations near and dear to your heart, or to the hearts of your loved one, and give a donation to that org in your loved one’s honor.
What if you take ten percent of your Christmas gift budget and give it to those in need? I’m not saying that you shouldn’t give any Christmas gifts to the people you love. Instead, I’m suggesting that wise living, in the fear of the Lord, is just like Psalm 112 suggests, “freely scattering our gifts to the poor.” By that kind of gift-giving, you participate in bringing light to darkness.
The psalm concludes with one verse of contrast, of warning. Verse 10, “The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.”
The wicked are the opposite of the blessed. The wicked do not fear the Lord. The wicked do not delight in God’s commands. The wicked are self-focused, selfish, bitter. Ultimately, the psalmist says, the wicked are stuck in a state of vexation, waste away, and their longings come to nothing. That is a severe description that God wants no one to end up in.
Therefore, fear God and delight in his ways, even if you are experiencing darkness. I encourage you to get a copy of Darkness Then Light, the Advent devotional this blog is following during Advent 2025.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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