AS FAT AS GREASE

This is one of the strangest sayings in the Psalms and somewhat hard to understand. As the word used for fat and the phrase are found only here in scripture, comparisons are not possible. The word used for grease is usually rendered fat and the most com­mon interpretation for the word translated here as ‘fat’ is the idea of insensitivity.

The psalmist is contrasting his love for God’s word and the value he places on it with the ‘proud’ whose desires for ‘gold and silver’ have made them insulated and insensitive to the precepts of the Lord. But it was not always this way: the psalmist has learnt this lesson out of affliction. Sometimes the most difficult of circumstances bring about the greatest of results in our lives and, as here, the desire for further progress. God’s servant believes the word, keeps it, wants to be taught more and continue to keep it with his whole heart. The heart, of course, speaks of our innermost being, the seat of our affec­tion, the core of our being. Once the word of God penetrates the heart, we will obey His commandments, keep His statutes and observe His law. In our daily lives, we will become sensi­tive to the slightest deviations from revealed truth and desire to modify and conform to God’s will.

In contrast, the proud, who in scripture are always marked by self-reliance and self-righteousness, have hearts that are insu­lated from the influence of God’s word. Perhaps they have much of this world’s goods and feel they have need of nothing. Surrounded by material comfort and the excess of materialism, they are bloated and their hearts encased in impenetrable ‘fat’.

O that God would preserve each of us from such a state. We live in an increasingly covetous world where the desire for money and possessions is promoted as virtuous. Sadly, even God’s people can and are falling into this trap. We are increased in goods beyond anything previous generations of believers had, but are impoverished in terms of the spiritual experiences they enjoyed and the character they built. May we ever be sensi­tive to the word of God, responsive with our whole being and preserved from an impenetrable, flabby heart.