Scripture Daily

Context No. 1092 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 111:1-10: in context

1Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation. 2The LORD’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them. 3His work is honor and majesty. His righteousness endures forever. 4He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. The LORD is gracious and merciful. 5He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant. 6He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. 7The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure. 8They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness. 9He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome! 10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

This psalm is a call to wholehearted thanksgiving. I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, it begins, and then it recounts his works: great, studied by all who delight in them, full of splendor and majesty, enduring righteousness. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; he is gracious and merciful; he gives food to those who fear him and always remembers his covenant. His works are faithful and just, his precepts trustworthy, established forever. He has sent redemption to his people. And it closes with the famous line: the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

A quiet phrase in the middle is worth pausing on: he has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. God does not just act and move on; he deliberately makes his deeds memorable, establishing festivals, commanding memorials, giving his people ways to keep his works before their eyes so they will not forget. Remembering is not left to chance; God builds it in, because he knows how quickly gratitude fades and his people drift when they forget what he has done. The whole psalm is itself an act of that remembering, deliberately reciting his greatness, mercy, faithfulness, and redemption, refusing to let them slip from mind. And it ends where wisdom always begins, with the fear of the LORD, so that remembering God's works and revering him are tied together: you cannot rightly fear a God whose works you have forgotten, and the discipline of recalling what he has done is what feeds a healthy awe. To give thanks with the whole heart, as the psalm opens, is to deliberately remember, and remembering is the ground of both wisdom and worship.

Am I deliberately remembering God's works, keeping them before my eyes as he intends, or letting gratitude fade because I have forgotten what he has done?

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