Psa 112:4  Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 

Psa 112:5  A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. 

— Psalms 112: 4-5

These are 2 very short verses, but their impact can be explained in short order because the impact of the words is so eloquently and powerfully written.

In verse 4, when an upright person is going through darkness (such as a difficult time in life), a light will arise for them, which as you know, would allow the person to find their way out of said darkness. But how can this be? Does this mean that someone who is not upright will not have a guiding light show up for them in times of difficulty? That could be a safe bet. Maybe the person who is not upright is in a difficult situation because they are not righteous.  And if a person has been screwing over the people around them, who would come to his side to help?  The righteous person in many cases just by being who they are inspire people around them to come to their aid, without asking, in times of need. Being righteous is tough! People instinctively know this because of the many times they have failed to do the righteous thing themselves. Why do you think the second half of the verse states that “he is gracious and full of compassion…” when a person comes to help them?

So who are you being in your daily life? Are you being righteous? Are you inspiring people? (See our previous post on inspiration)

As for verse 5, let’s start by discussing the back half of the verse, “he will guide his affairs with discretion.”  How many people do we know that do not guide their lives with discretion? Lots of them. And if we are completely honest, every single one of us, even for short periods of time, have not thought or made good life decisions.  Don’t confuse this writing for a get rich scheme. This is sage advice that IN ALL MATTERS OF YOUR LIFE, you will use discretion (your judgement) and think before you execute a decision. Which leads us to the first half of verse 5, “a good man sheweth favor, and lendeth.”  You will not be able to do either of these things if you do not exercise discretion. You want to show favor to those who are doing the right thing, and calling good only what is good, and calling bad only what is bad.  And sometimes, you show favor to someone by lending them your resources such as time, money, food, a helping hand, or others; therefore, guide your affairs with discretion so that you only lend wisely.

Meditate on this and see how it these lessons are ingrained in your own life.