“Psa. 112:1      Praise the LORD!

             Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

                        who greatly delights in his commandments!

²           His offspring will be mighty in the land;

                        the generation of the upright will be blessed.

³           Wealth and riches are in his house,

                        and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴           Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;

                        he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

⁵           It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;

                        who conducts his affairs with justice.

⁶           For the righteous will never be moved;

                        he will be remembered forever.

⁷           He is not afraid of bad news;

                        his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

⁸           His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,

                        until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

⁹           He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;

                        his righteousness endures forever;

                        his horn is exalted in honor.

¹⁰         The wicked man sees it and is angry;

                        he gnashes his teeth and melts away;

                        the desire of the wicked will perish!”

Kidner, in his excellent commentary on the Psalms in the Tyndale series, writes,

“The opening verses are unclouded: an idyllic picture of piety and prosperity which calls to mind the beginning of the book of Job. The fact that this person is a man of character, not merely of property, will emerge chiefly in the later verses, but already his godliness shows itself as an enthusiasm rather than a burden. . . . To this man God’s word is as fascinating as are his works to the naturalist; and the term used for it, his commandments, implies that his interest is practical. What grips him is God’s will and call.” (pages 433-434).

Yet, I don’t know of anyone who likes being told what to do. And to speak of delighting in being told what to do? This is just plain absurd. I am deeply skeptical about anyone who says that they are telling me that I have to do something, even if they say it is for my own good. In large part, that is because of my own selfish willfulness. But also, I more than suspect that most of the time, commandments are for the commandment-giver’s sake, rather than mine.

And let’s call it a spade and not a shovel. Most of the time we are right to question commandments. Many are arbitrary and unnecessary. Some of them are downright evil. To do what we’re told to do, to follow orders, is not always the best thing to do. I’m inclined to say that is not even often the best thing to do.

But what if there were someone giving commandments who completely understood everything and loved us perfectly? I suppose that, if there were such a person, all his/her commands would truly be for our ultimate good.

Of course, many people do believe in such a Person. Some of us call that Person “God”. We believe in that Person—sort of. But the truth is, we don’t believe in such a Person very consistently. When this Person who is pure love and perfect wisdom gives us a command, we demonstrate how little we really believe in such a Person. We hesitate, we grouse, we rationalize, we procrastinate.

How can we get over such practical atheism? Let me propose an experiment. Just for today, how would it be if we prayed a simple prayer that would go something like this: “God, just for today, give a command or two or a few. I will obey and see how delighted I am by the end of the day.” Of course, you can customize this prayer as you see fit.

There is only one way to find out if God’s commandments are truly delightful. That is the way of trust and obedience. How would it be if we got all scientific about this and experimented with it? There’s only one way to find out!