When we suffer in our reputation, our first concern should be about our integrity and we may then trust our reputation to God.
His good will is sufficient to secure us from the ill will of all that hate us.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?
6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
11 By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 41 – “Lord, Heal My Soul”
This psalm was probably composed, with the adjacent ones, during the four years in which Absalom’s conspiracy was being hatched. Perhaps the anxiety thus caused induced some serious illness, over which David’s enemies exulted with unseemly glee. His sensitive nature was evidently greatly pained. But who does not realize the applicability of the psalm to the betrayal of our Lord? Psalm 41:9 is quoted in John 13:18.
In the day of trouble, when enemies oppose, Psalm 41:5-8, and friends prove false, Psalm 41:9, God draws near. Look after God’s poor and He will care for you in the evil day. The blessings that you have endeavored to communicate will return to your own comfort in the hour of tribulation. God will make (or change) your bed in sickness, Psalm 41:3; will heal your soul, Psalm 41:4; and will set you before His face forever, Psalm 41:12. What a sweet conception of God as nurse in the room where feet must be shod with velvet and voices speak in gentlest tones! —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 41:1—Blessed is he that considereth the poor.
The realm of Blessedness is all around. It may be entered at any minute, and we may dwell in it all the days of our life. Our enjoyment of blessedness is totally undetermined by outward circumstances. If you stand in some great retail emporium and watch the faces of the women, you will be greatly instructed. Yonder sits a richly-dressed lady with society and fashion, dress and money at her command, but her manner and tone are utterly weary and dissatisfied; across the counter a girl waits on her, whose thin face and simple attire tell their own story, but her expression and bearing betoken the possession of an inner calm and strength, an inexhaustible fund of patience and sweetness. Such contrasts meet us everywhere. The realm of blessedness dips down into humble and lowly lives on every side of us. Have we entered it?
Christ’s beatitudes give us eight gates, any one of which will immediately conduct us within its confines. But here is another: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” Even if you cannot help or relieve them to any appreciable extent, consider them; let them feel that you are thinking of and for them; do not hurry them when they recite their long, sad story; put them at their ease; treat them with Christian courtesy and consideration. Begin at once. There are plenty around you, who, if not poor in the things of this world, are poor in love and hope and the knowledge of God. Tell them of “the blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22). Silver and gold you may have none; but such as you have be sure and give. Learn to consider people. Try and look on things from their standpoint. —Our Daily Homily