Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 238 · August 26
Waiting for News
“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.”
I just want to know either way. Anybody who has waited on a result has said some version of that, usually in a corridor, to somebody who cannot do a thing about it.
Two people in that corridor. One has her phone face up on her knee and has read the same paragraph four times. The other put his in his coat an hour ago and has not looked since. Ask either of them what they are afraid of and neither says the illness. They say the not knowing, and the not knowing is what this verse is about.
Take the promise as written. It is narrower and steadier than it sounds. Nothing here says the tidings will be good. Psalm 112 is a realistic poem: verse eight has the man unafraid until he see his desire upon his enemies, and verse ten has other people watching and gnashing their teeth. What is offered is a man who can hear bad news without coming apart, and the news is left standing where it always was.
Where a heart like that comes from is the point, and you see it only by reading the psalm before this one. Psalms 111 and 112 are a matched pair, both alphabetical, both opening Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 111 says of God: his righteousness endureth for ever, and the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. Psalm 112 says of the man who fears him: his righteousness endureth for ever, and he is gracious, and full of compassion. The second poem hands the first poem's phrases to a person, one at a time, deliberately. A fixed heart here is borrowed property, and the original is printed one page earlier so that you can check.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 238 is Blessed Are the Merciful (Matthew 5:7).