The Wonderful Works of God

Many people believe Psalm 111 & 112 go together. It’s easy to see their similarities:

1) In English translation both are ten verses.

2) They both begin with “Praise the Lord”

In fact, some call Psalms 111-118 the “Hallelujah Psalms” because this section focuses on praising the Lord and all but Psalms 114 & 118 contain the Hebrew word Hallelujah (translated as “Praise the LORD”).

3) They are both acrostics. That means the first letter of each line (in the original) begins with a succeeding Hebrew letter.

The Psalm itself is not difficult to break down. We’re going to outline it like this:

1. A Celebration of the LORD (1-3).

2. The Salvation of the Lord (4-9).

3. The Students of the Lord (10).

1. A Celebration of the Lord (1-3).

“Praise the Lord” This is the only line that is not a part of the acrostic. The acrostic starts with the next line. This serves as an introduction to the Psalm. It’s a call to give God glory.

We out to praise God every single day. It should be as natural to us as breathing. There should be no need for searching for a reason to praise the Lord. His works are so obvious one should be able to praise God without any preparation at all.

The Psalmist is personal in his worship.

I will give thanks.

I will give thanks with my whole heart. Nothing we do for the Lord should be halfhearted, especially praise.

We should thank God like we mean it. When we thank God for His goodness it should draw tears to our eyes.

We should sing like we mean it. If we sing songs of the world more passionately than we do songs of the Lord, we are missing the mark.

I love how the people of God are described in verse 1:

The company of the upright. This is probably a smaller group of people than the “congregation” mentioned. Giving thanks to God is not reserved only for corporate worship. Amongst our friends we should talk of the Lord.

“Upright” means righteous. God’s people are to be marked by righteousness. If we are not spending our time with righteous people it is unlikely we will praise God in a smaller setting. Make sure those you spend most of your time with encourage you to praise God.

The congregation. God’s people have always gathered. Whether it is NT or OT the command is for God’s people to gather and praise Him.

The size of the crowd should not determine our level of praise to God. Whether we are in the company of friends or the congregation of the church we should celebrate God.

v. 2 God’s works are great. That can be seen by the most casual observer. The heavens declare the glory of God. All one must do is open their eyes to see how great God’s works are. Look at the second part of the verse.

“Studied by all who delight in them.”

Do you delight in the Lord?

Do you find your joy in God?

Is He the reason you are happy?

Does Christ give you contentment?

If He does you will study the great works of the Lord.

You will dig into the things of God.

You will meditate on who He is and what he has done.

You will study Scripture.

You will recognize His hand in your life.

You will remember the sin He has forgiven you of.

If all you is glance at the things of God you will not be a person known for praising the Lord. It’s sad that many who come to church only see the surface when it comes to the things of God.

We can only assume such people are not convinced of God’s greatness. If we believe God is great then certainly, we will be moved to seek to know His person, His ways, His works.

How often do you read the Word?

How often do you listen to the Word proclaimed?

How often do you meditate on His goodness in your life?

Do you study God?

v.3 Look at all there is to learn of God. He is:

“full of splendor and majesty“There is nothing lacking in God. Even when He continues to pour Himself out in creation, He is still full of splendor and majesty. The greatness of God is never exhausted nor is it ever depleted.

“His righteousness endures forever” It knows no end. Because His righteousness knows no end our praise should know no end.

We begin the Psalm by celebrating the Lord.

2. The salvation of the Lord (4-9).

God has caused His ways to be remembered. In what ways has He done this?

In Israel this was done with:

The sabbath

The various feasts

The prophets

The Law

The Tabernacle & Temple

What had God done for us to ensure we remember His ways?

The resurrection of Christ

The giving of the Holy Spirit (Brings to remembrance)

The giving of the Word

The gathering of the saints on the Lord’s day.

The reading & preaching of God’s Word

God has caused His works to be remembered. He has done this in such a way that each generation will see His marvelous works.

Why has He done this? Look at the end of verse 4:

“the LORD is gracious and merciful”. He reveals His works as a means to draw sinners to Himself. You came to Christ because God caused you to remember his works.

In verses 5-7 we see God’s works during different periods of time.

The wilderness generation (5). After the Exodus the people traveled through the wilderness. They needed food to eat. While they were in the wilderness the Lord fed them manna from heaven.

It says God remembers His covenant forever. Whether this is the Abrahamic covenant, or the covenant given at Sinai doesn’t make any difference. The point is God is faithful to his people in every generation. Every promise He has made He will keep.

The entering into the Promised Land (6). God promised Abraham He would give his descendants a land flowing with milk and honey. He delivered that promise. Beginning at Jericho the strength of the Lord was made known among Canaan. Israel’s army marched to victory claiming the land God had given them.

The Revelation of the Law at Sinai (7-8).

“Precepts” refers to the Law of God, His words. His commands are:

Trustworthy- you can trust the Word of God.

Established forever- the Word of God will not perish.

To be performed with faithfulness and uprightness- His word should be obeyed in every generation.

v. 9 In sending his Word to us He has revealed His redemption to us.

God has always promised to redeem His people. This promise has been symbolized by earthly redemptions like the Jews redemption from Egypt. As we continue to read Scripture we see that earthly redemption was only a shadow of the actual redemption that would be found in the Messiah.

It is important to understand that we know of Christ’s redemption in the same way we know of Israel’s redemption from Egypt. The Bible tells us so. Without God’s Word we would know nothing of the Savior.

Our salvation was accomplished through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

Our salvation is extended through the preaching of God’s Word.

Let us never downplay God’s written word. If it were not for God’s written Word His works would not be remembered.

Holy and Awesome is His name!

The word awesome is translated Reverend in the KJV. It’s the only place in the bible the word is used. It is given as a title of God. This is why I have never felt comfortable calling a pastor Reverend. I’m not saying it’s sinful. I’m simply telling you why I don’t feel comfortable being called reverend. The New Testament calls us bishop, pastor, elder, overseer. It never calls us reverend.

God is called reverend because He is to be revered. He is to be lifted up. He is awesome.

3. The students of God (10).

Our holy God is to be feared. Not everyone fears the Lord. Those who do have entered the path of wisdom.

If you don’t fear God, you have not even begun to follow Him. If we do not follow Him, we will not learn His wisdom.

Notice another little nugget here. To have a good understanding of God we must put his word into practice. There are those who know the Bible in an academic sense. They know the stories. They know facts from the Word. They perhaps can even quote Scripture. None of that matters if they are not obeying Scripture.

This last verse shows us how we should respond to the great works of God. God has caused us to remember His works. We should therefore be moved to study Him. If you are saved you are a student of God. You are a lifelong student of His.

As we study God, we should put into practice what we learn about Him. The more we learn, the more we should practice.

When we are saved, we fear and love the Lord. As we learn His Word, we will fear Him and love him even more. This is the natural progression of the Christian.

There is no reason to stop learning of and living for the Lord. Look how the Psalm ends. His praise endures forever. We can never learn all there is to learn of God. We could never do all there is to do for God. That means we should never stop learning and never stop living the Word.

To stop learning of God is to say, “I’ve learned all there is to learn of God.”

To stop living for God is to say, “I’ve done all there is to do for God.”

God’s praise endures forever. Let us learn a new reason to praise Him every day. Let us learn a new thing to do for Him every day. He is worthy.