Psalm 112:5 & 9 –
<5>Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly.
<9> They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor.
This was a tough chapter to pick a verse since I highlighted almost every one! There is so much hope and truth you should go back a read it completely and see if you have the same reaction. One could pick apart this as a skeptic also and point to countless “believers” who have suffered over their lives. Or you could look at it as a promise of how they are. It’s the old “half full or half empty” idea, do you look at what life has or what it is lacking? Hence the source of “joy” in one’s life comes from God.
These two verses deal with business, finance and charity. All are actually counter intuitive when you think about it. Look at the banks right now, they loaned money “generously” and are being stiffed. I can say how many dollars we have loaned and never seen back. So how can one loan “generously” and expect to have anything? Conducting business “fairly” is difficult since most everyone you are doing business with does not believe this and therefore “works” you on your fair price. I recently had a “Christian” friend say you cannot run a business fairly these days and make it!
The idea of sharing and giving freely is great in concept but in action you find yourself being sucked dry. You often wonder if your “help” is just “enabling” and not really helping. So you see here I just cut apart these two verses as a “skeptic” would, but in reality life is great even with setbacks! God has done all he promised, just not in the magnitude I would have hoped. We are doing just fine while conducting business fairly and giving what we think is generously. I have great excitement to see the promises of God unfold in all our lives as they are in this Psalm!