Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. – Psalm 112:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 19, 2019): Psalm 111 & 112

I attended a church recently where every time the worship leader said “Hallelujah,” always in response to something important he had just said, the people, in turn, replied, “Praise the Lord.” I found it a quaint expression of devotion that reminded me of times long passed. I remember, as a very young child, going to a church where those who sat in the congregation would often reply with exclamations of “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” to things that they heard from the pulpit, especially those comments that particularly hit home with them. But the difference in this church was that, where in the church of my youth the praise was initiated by the congregation, here the outburst of praise was always undertaken by the speaker. It was as if the speaker punctuated his message with “this is good stuff here, will somebody say something and tell me that you think it is good too.” Maybe it is my introverted ways, but it all seemed somewhat self-serving.    

Actually, “Praise the Lord” is just the English translation of “Hallelujah.” The opening words of this Psalm, and many others, are transliterated into “Halal (Praise) Yahh (the Lord; Yahh is a shortened form of Yahweh). We have taken this Hebrew phrased and morphed it into our Hallelujah. But the reality is that our praise must go beyond our words and into our actions. So the Psalmist declares, Praise the Lord! Blessed are those who find delight in his commands or who respond to his directions. Blessed are those who do what God desires.

There is some question as to whether Psalm 111 and 112 might have been initially intended to be a single Psalm. At the very least, the author of both Psalms appears to be the same, and Psalm 111 and 112 were likely written at the same time. The reason for this assertion is because the opening words of Psalm 112 appear to pick up where Psalm 111 leaves off. Psalm 111 ends with the idea that fear, or respect, for God is the beginning of wisdom. And Psalm 112 continues that thought by saying that we are blessed when that respect for God translates into actions that reflect what God desires, both for us and for our world.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 113 & 114