Daily Devotions

God endures for ever, but the wicked shall melt away!

Psalm 112:9-10

‘Unto the upright, there arises light in the darkness!… The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance!… His righteousness endures for ever!… The wicked shall see it, and be grieved! He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away!… The wicked, shall perish!’ Psalm 112:4-10.

Calvin comments: “When the whole world is overwhelmed with troubles, God’s grace shines upon the faithful…. The ungodly…are…blind…. They are plunged into the darkness of death…. The godly…are never overwhelmed with darkness…. Light arises to them, in darkness!…

“‘His righteousness endures for ever!’… It is a uniform course of liberality which is here praised by the Prophet…. The righteous manage their affairs with discretion…. Refer it to the fruit of righteousness!…

“The Prophet shows how God by His benefits preserves the glory of that righteousness which is due to their liberality, and does not disappoint them of their reward…. He exalts…their power or their prosperous condition….

“‘The wicked shall see it (and be grieved! He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away!… The wicked, shall perish)!’…

“The wicked…shall yet be made to feel…that the righteous…do not vainly devote themselves to the cultivation of charity and mercy. Let them (the wicked) harden themselves as they choose!… The honour which God confers upon His children, shall be exhibited to them (the wicked). The sight of which shall make them gnash with their teeth, and shall excite an envy that shall consume them!…

“‘The wicked shall be disappointed. (The wicked shall perish)!’… The Prophet tells them that God will snatch from them what they imagined was already in their possession — so that they shall always depart destitute and famishing!”

Calvin also says in his Institutes II:10:16: “Nor can those things…said as to the prosperous success of believers, be understood in any other sense than as referring to the manifestation of celestial glory…. ‘Light is sown for the righteous…. His righteousness endures for ever! His horn shall be exalted with honour! The desire of the wicked shall perish!… The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance!’ (Psalm 112:4,6,9,10).”

Calvin further says in his Psychopannychia: “‘The just will be in eternal remembrance’ (Psalm 112:6). They have not…fallen from the hand of the Lord, nor escaped His remembrance…. ‘The sinner will see and be angry! He will gnash with his teeth and pine away! The desire of the sinner, will perish! (Psalm 112:10).”

God and His children endure for ever! The wicked shall melt away! What will occur to you?