Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.
I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread. He is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing.
Psalm 37:25-26 (CSB)
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In all of Torah, the first five books of the Bible, there is only ever ONE man called righteous (tzaddik) by God. That man is Noah: “These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9; emphasis mine).
To be a tzaddik, to be righteous, means to be non-hypocritical, to be upright, to walk a straight path. In other words, a righteous person is a straight shooter who follows truth. So, not only was Noah righteous, but his path was straight and he walked with God. In Amos 3:3, we are told, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” The fact Noah got to walk with God means they were in agreement. Agreement on what, though?
Noah was a tzaddik for sure, but he was also a man who feared God. In Genesis 6:22, we are told that Noah also “did according to all that God commanded him.” This means that Noah understood who was the Boss. He and God could walk together because they both agreed to the terms of the relationship — God is Awesome Father and Lord, Noah is the righteous follower of God (in all circumstances).
My brief discussion on Noah is meant to help define what it means to be a righteous follower of God. In this case, I’m letting the Bible interpret itself. So, now on to Psalm 37:25 and 26…
There are two camps when it comes to whom the speaker is in these two lines. Many say it is David, himself. But the Rabbis of old say it is Archangel Michael. These rabbis say that chronologically David was too young when he wrote this psalm to be the wise, old man as imagined in the verses. It must be a speaker who has been around for a long time who has seen a few righteous people over the course of his lifetime. Honestly, whether it is David who said it or Archangel Michael is a truth that can be solved once we’re in heaven. For the sake of this post, I want to focus on the remez meaning of the verses. Although I do want to say that it is kind of cool if the speaker is Archangel Michael. Lends an interesting layer to the lines, in my humble opinion. But I digress.
Too often, we humans get caught up in the bad. That’s the whole point of Psalm 37 — David is desperately trying to get people to stop focusing on the bad guys and the good they get, and refocus back to God and all the ways He protects His own. Lines 25 and 26 continue to point towards God’s awesomeness as Father. The speaker of these lines is trying to convey that he knows a thing or two cause he’s seen a thing or two (thanks Farmers Insurance for the line!), and what he has witnessed over his long life is that God rewards and cares for the tzaddik no matter what is going on in society. To the tzaddik, God is always generous and He never abandons or forsakes them. He is always watching out for them. Some way, somehow, He always provides. In this, God shows His constant comfort and grace to His righteous ones.
Want to know something cool? Noah’s name in Hebrew means comforter. If you flip the Hebrew letters of his name you get the word grace. Both are attributes of God. So, when you are a tzaddik, a righteous person, who follows God’s commands and chooses to walk with Him daily, according to Psalm 37:25 and 26, God will show you comfort and grace even in the most trying, scary of times. Again, God is such a cool Father!
Today, dear reader, choose to be a tzaddik. Choose to follow God’s commands. Choose to walk with Him. When you do, God will protect you from all the insanity of this world!
The Christian Fiction Girl 
I am learning so much from your Encouragement Thursday posts! I like David’s attitude of encouraging others to look at the good and the meaning of Noah’s name. I want to be that “t” word that I can’t remember, but I will add it to my vocabulary notes. Thank you for sharing such a great word!
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I like the perspective shift, too. I can easily lose my focus on the good for the bad. Then I spiral. My new thing to do is when I catch myself turning to the negative I say, “No! Take every thought captive to obey Christ!” It’s helping a lot!!!
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