Weekly Devotional 25th October, 2024
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 25th October 2024
We are continuing to explore the knowledge of God as expressed in the Psalms. This week we will look at Psalm 111 the author of which is unknown.
Psalm 111:1-4 – “Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly. 2 Great are the works of the LORD; They are studied by all who delight in them. 3 Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. 4 He has made His wonders to be remembered; The LORD is gracious and compassionate.”
John Calvin tells us that the magnitude of God’s works is a subject that, generally, eludes the observation of men, and, therefore, few of them are acquainted with it. This is very sad because the works of the Lord are great – even the little things He does. Those who love Him will delight in His handy work. They will study His ways to be able to get as deep an understanding of them as possible. An earnest and passionate believer will dig deep into His Word and learn of His ways with the desire to apply them to his/her own life. The Lord’s works will bring instruction, pleasure, and life to all who pursue them.
Although even a brief grasp of His works will bring much joy, those who do not look below the surface miss the best part of what He would teach us. Spurgeon makes an amazing comment here. He says,
Because the works are great, they cannot be seen all at once but must be looked into with care, and this seeking out is of essential service to us by educating our faculties and strengthening our spiritual eye gradually to bear the light of the divine glory. It is well for us that all things cannot be seen at a glance, for the search into their mysteries is as useful to us as the knowledge which we thereby attain. The history of the Lord’s dealings with his people is especially a fit subject for the meditation of reverent minds who find therein a sweet solace, and a never-failing source of delight.
Isn’t that a wonderful statement? It should cause us to pause and consider how much of this we are grasping and how much we are leaving to remain undiscovered in our own lives.
Verse 3 tells us that His work is splendid and majestic. It brings us to place all honour and glory upon Him. It should be the theme of our highest praise. And this beauty is enhanced by the fact that it is not the heart of God to reveal any such display of His power, to fill our minds with terror. On the contrary, for all those in Christ, He gives a great display of His power and righteousness with the intention of captivating our hearts and revealing to us how this power is available to be expressed in our own lives.
We are promised that God will never do any wrong to any of those who embrace Him and follow His ways even though the very righteousness of them endures forever (Verse 3), meaning no compromise will ever be acceptable to them.
As a result, all His people would be required to meet this level of behaviour, but alas, even the brightest of humanity can never meet what the Lord requires and expresses in His own life. However, this shocking revelation should not bring us despair, because the very demands of His righteousness have already been met on our behalf.
They were satisfied by His own initiative of becoming a human being, living, suffering, dying, and becoming sin on our behalf so that we were able to become His righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
What needs to be seen here is that this justice which He displays for the preservation and protection of His people, is a deep expression of His unmerited favour which He brings before us. As a result, the Lord has shown us that He is gracious and compassionate, bestowed His love upon eternity and called us His beloved sons and daughters (Romans 8).
What an amazing God we serve!
God bless you.