Psalm 111:3 – “Silly Stones”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³Glorious and majestic [is] His doing,

   and His uprightness [is] standing forever.

Verse 3 at first glance may appear to be very cliché. “Right, right, of course the Lord is glorious and majestic and all of that forever …” But what strikes me is how profound this verse is.

What am I trying to say? The whole world it seems is constantly telling us that the Lord is a mean God, that He is capricious in His demands, that He is totally not to be trusted. That was Satan’s design from the beginning: “Hath God surely said …?” It was to cast doubt on the Lord’s goodness. All down through history, when the peoples of the world have invented their “gods,” those gods have usually been vindictive, capricious, implacable, and often of savory character themselves. Today people pose questions like, “If God was really a God of love, why would He …” and the very question itself leaves over Him this pall of doubt. My own heart, I’m sorry to confess, cannot seem to convince itself of His goodness, as evidenced by my seemingly endless struggle with fears and worries. I hate it, but isn’t that exactly what my heart is saying when it’s gripped with fears and worries – “I don’t know if I can trust the Lord with this?”

Enter into all of that doubt and fear and worry this Psalm:

³Glorious and majestic [is] His doing,

   and His uprightness [is] standing forever.

The words I’ve translated glorious and majestic are more picture words that speak of height, weight, power, splendor, majesty, grandeur, even royal attire. The fact the writer uses two of such words is almost as if he can’t say enough. “The Lord’s doings? They are … they are … they are … just amazing!” And not only that but “His uprightness stands forever.” In other words, He will always, always, always do what is right. There is absolutely nothing capricious in Him, nothing whatsoever less than completely trustworthy. A huge part of knowing Him is the assured belief (faith) that He will do us good. And He will.

I so appreciate Christian radio. So many times, either in a song or in something said, there will be some nugget of truth that profoundly helps me. Recently someone was talking about something and they just threw out how God expects us to work but then He steps in and makes it far more, far better than we ever could. They pointed to David and Goliath and Israel and the walls of Jericho. In both of those cases, the humans did what they could (not much) and the Lord turned it into something marvelous. It struck me because that is without a doubt the story of my life. What few things I have done right, He has always, always, always made me waaaaaaaaay more successful than I could have ever been. I’ve thrown my silly stones, blown my silly horns, and giants and walls have fallen before me.

I guess that is a huge part of my problem – that I am constantly facing what to me are impossible challenges, insurmountable obstacles, and I am painfully aware how inadequate I am to overcome them. As an engineer, I spend all day every day, it seems, working on impossible projects – no one knows “why” this happens, there’s not enough money to fix this, I have to use what kind of computer program?, the people who need to give me answers don’t seem to want to, there’s no way we can do this in that short amount of time, and on and on. And every day I just have to wade in, throw my silly stones, and live painfully aware of how inadequate I am. And yet, what has always been true? The Lord has ALWAYS come through for me. He has made things happen at just the right times in just the right places, He’s helped me see things that I would never have seen, He’s provided people to come alongside and provide just the inputs I lacked; and because of Him, the giants and walls have fallen. It is so true.

So why do I keep on fearing? Why can’t I just embrace the simple truth of Psalm 111:3? “Glorious and majestic [is] His doing, and His uprightness [is] standing forever.”

You see it isn’t cliché at all. The simple statement is absolutely profound and life-changing. The Lord is not at all the vindictive, capricious god people try to make Him out to be; and He’s not the untrustworthy God my heart (apparently) fears He might be.

I am thankful for all the help He does give me to trust Him. I often realize in the middle of my fears, in the middle of these impossible situations, that I can trust Him, that He will help me, and that is definitely what keeps me sane. I just wish I could finally and completely embrace His goodness and live above all this fear and worry. I believe it is possible. I believe, if I live long enough, He will somehow teach me and help me to make major strides in it. I just wish I was further along than I am.

But, as He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Weakness? I have plenty of that to offer! Strength? He has plenty to provide. I am so glad Psalm 111:3 is true. God help me to embrace it and live it. It is anything but cliché!