June 4thPsalm 111
Wherever good people gather
Hallelujah!
I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got—
Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.
God’s works are so great, worth
A lifetime of study—endless enjoyment!
Splendor and beauty mark his craft;
His generosity never gives out.
His miracles are his memorial—
This God of Grace, this God of Love.
He gave food to those who fear him,
He remembered to keep his ancient promise.
He proved to his people that he could do what he said:
Hand them the nations on a platter—a gift!
He manufactures truth and justice;
All his products are guaranteed to last—
Never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof.
All that he makes and does is honest and true:
He paid the ransom for his people,
He ordered his Covenant kept forever.
He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.
The good life begins in the fear of God—
Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.
His Hallelujah lasts forever! [MESSAGE]
Psalm 111 and 112 belong together. Both are acrostic poems; they have twenty-two lines, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. While Psalm 111 focuses on God and God's works, Psalm 112 features those who 'honour the Lord' (112.1). Such people mirror God's character and values.
The key word the key word used four times of God's 'works' (v.2,4,6,7) is used twice more to describe the people's response (v.8,10).
The correct posture toward God is this:
Praise for God's wonderful works. Gratitude for God's covenant commitment. Obedience - a glad response to God's grace.
The Revised Common Liturgy pairs this psalm with 1 Kings 3.3-14. Here Solomon asks God for wisdom to rule wisely, rather than asking for those gifts a king might be expected to covet, such as long life and rule, riches, or the life of the king's enemies. Solomon is one who has 'studied the works of the Lord' (111.2) in the sense of knowing their true inner meaning and so asks to be able to recognize the works as the Lords's. Such a king will rule wisely with justice and humility.
The last verse of this psalm affirms such wisdom and leads naturally into Psalm 112
10 Fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins;
sure knowledge is for all who keep God’s laws.
God’s praise lasts forever! [Common English Bible]
Fear means not fright but awe and respect that include commitment and obedience. Praise, therefore is both 'liturgy and lifestyle' (Richard Clifford).
Reflection
"THE QUESTION is not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God's things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak—even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe there is a God who speaks at all anywhere. He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and of our own footsore and sacred journeys. We cannot live our lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music. Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement. . . . "Be not afraid," says our Lord, "for lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." He says he is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for him. Listen to the sweet and bitter airs of your present and your past for the sound of him." [Frederick Beuchner]
Take time to 'listen to your life.'
What 'good works' of God are you grateful for?