Psalm 111:4 – “Memory”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

⁴Memory He has made to His ones being amazed;

   gracious and compassionate [is] the LORD.

As I was studying this verse, I came across a most interesting quote from Albert Barnes regarding our remembering the Lord’s works:

“‘They’ are so made, that man may remember them; the memory of man, also, is so made, that it may retain them. The highest and most appropriate exercise of memory is to retain the lessons which the works of God inculcate; to treasure up for gratitude and for use what He teaches His intelligent creation through those works. Memory can never be better employed than in treasuring up the truths which the Creator teaches in His providential dealings with us, and in His word. How much better would it be for man if he labored more to “remember” these things; if he sought to forget many of those things which he is so careful now to retain in his recollection.”

I’ve never thought before of our memory as a gift. The Lord created us with this storehouse within us, this place where everything we see and hear and think is recorded. Then He gave us the capacity to “remember,” to go back to that memory bank and draw out those memories to replay them in our minds. As Barnes says, “Memory can never be better employed than in treasuring up the truths which the Creator teaches …” and I love his “How much better would it be for man if he labored more to ‘remember’ these things; if he sought to forget many of those things which he is so careful now to retain in his recollection.”

Interesting. To some extent we can’t control what goes into our memories, as far as the events which befall us every day. Then again, we do exercise a measure of control. I can’t help it if as I’m walking down the street I suddenly see something I wish I hadn’t. But I can choose not to be in places where I’ll see things I shouldn’t. I can choose to spend my time with people who say things that are edifying and helpful; or I can allow myself to be in the company of someone I know will say things I wish I didn’t hear. In either case, my memory will store up everything. Perhaps if we more appreciated this gift of “memory” we’d be more careful where we are, who we’re with, what we watch, and so forth. It is such a pleasant thing to have been with someone and have such “good memories.” On the other hand, it is grief to have seen and heard things I wish I hadn’t, but now they’re there, permanently imprinted on my being.

But not only is there this bank of memories but there is also the ability “to remember.” We have the ability to deliberately “recall” specific memories, like when I’m “trying to remember” what someone said, or deliberately working on memorizing Scripture and then going over those verses to “keep them in my mind.” That is one kind of “remembering.” Then, certainly for me, there is the sort of background video-tape playing constantly in my mind. I don’t know if everyone else is like me but no matter what I’m doing, my mind is constantly replaying memories. As they come up, I can choose to willingly ponder over them or push them aside and think of something else. One example would be a person who is bitter. Their mind constantly brings up the faults or failures of others from the past and they allow those thoughts to play on and on and poison their hearts. For me, one of the most common themes of this replay is all my regrets – all the stupid things I’ve done and said, all my failures to be who and what I should have been. Those memories are like merciless torturers to me, never relenting, incessantly lashing me with their condemning whips. It is interesting to me to note the only relief I find is by “remembering” that God doesn’t see me that way. He is aware of all my failures, yet, as it says in Zeph 3:17, “He rejoices over me with singing …” Early in my Christian life I memorized from Romans 8:  “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus … What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” When I “remember” these verses, it allows me to push away the bludgeoning regrets.

Again, Barnes’ thought strikes me: “How much better would it be for man if he labored more to ‘remember’ these things; if he sought to forget many of those things which he is so careful now to retain in his recollection.”

I like this a lot. I’m going to try to be more aware of this gift the Lord has given me, the ability to store memories and then the ability to recall them (or choose not to). I would like to be more aware of where I am and what I’m doing and who I’m with – with the thought that everything I see and hear (good or bad) will go into my memory forever. And then I would like to be more aware of what I am recalling and be more deliberately choosing, as I recall, what I allow my mind to rehearse. As of today, I can’t change what has already gone into my memory, but I can choose which of those memories I will allow to replay. Like the old saying, “I can’t stop the birds from flying over my head – but I don’t have to let them build a nest in my hair!”

Interesting – “A memory He had made …”

I close by quoting Barnes again:

“‘They’ are so made, that man may remember them; the memory of man, also, is so made, that it may retain them. The highest and most appropriate exercise of memory is to retain the lessons which the works of God inculcate; to treasure up for gratitude and for use what He teaches His intelligent creation through those works. Memory can never be better employed than in treasuring up the truths which the Creator teaches in His providential dealings with us, and in His word. How much better would it be for man if he labored more to “remember” these things; if he sought to forget many of those things which he is so careful now to retain in his recollection.”

Psalm 111:4 – “Amazed, Still”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

⁴Memory He has made to His ones being amazed;

   gracious and compassionate [is] the LORD.

The first line of this verse is another place where I think the Hebrew is very difficult to translate. In Hebrew it has only three words. The first is something like “memory” or “a memorial” or “a remembering,” and the second is a simple verb “He made.” What is puzzling is the third word, which is a passive participle of “palah” (“to amaze”) with a third person masculine singular suffix, which I think most directly translates to “His ones being amazed.” The NIV translates the line, “He has caused His wonders to be remembered …” Hmmmmm. The verse is definitely talking about memory and has something to do with amazement, but as you can see, a direct translation from Hebrew to English doesn’t immediately make a lot of sense. As I am studying it, the one thing I think might be helpful is to put the entire verse together into a single thought, so that in order to understand it, you have to at the same time consider the statement, “Gracious and compassionate is the LORD.” It looks like perhaps all the other verses are comprised of two lines presenting a single thought, so I think it reasonable to take these two lines together.

Albert Barnes noted the difficulty and offered the translation, “Memory hath he made for his wonderful works.” To look at his translation, first of all one should note that the word “wonderful” has changed meaning in the last 200 years. It originally meant literally “full of wonder” and I would suggest is better translated “amazing” today. We take “wonderful” as just a “Golly gee, isn’t this nice?” kind of word instead of having to do with “wonders.” So today, Barnes would probably translate it “Memory He has made for His amazing works.” My problem is that the participle is in the Niphal stem which makes it passive. Somehow we have to bring out this sense that something is itself being amazed. Unless I’m missing something (which is entirely possible, especially with Hebrew -- which at times is downright cryptic!), I don’t see any way to translate it except as “amazed ones” (a passive form) rather than “amazing works” (which contains no passive element at all). And I note, whatever they are, they are definitely “His.”

Of course I should note that (apparently) no one else in the recorded universe translates it like this. At such times, I’m always reminded of John Eadie’s warning, “Interpretations are generally false in proportion to their ingenuity.” To be alone in a translation or interpretation is usually not a good thing! Unfortunately, until I learn something different, I don’t know how else to translate these three (seemingly) simple words while trying to be faithful to the original.

So allowing me to be (dangerously) alone, I’m going to run with my “His amazed ones.” If that is the case, He’s referring to us, the same ones who in verse 2 were searching out His works and finding them delightful. Now, in verse 4, there is something being remembered by us and we’re being amazed.

This is precisely where, if we take the verse as a whole, it would tell us what is being remembered by us who are being amazed. And what is it? The second line is “Gracious and compassionate is the LORD.” That is what we’re remembering and leaving us amazed!

Could I suggest that, to us who are sinful and twisted and deserving of hell, there is no wonder greater than to find the Lord “gracious and compassionate?” From my own life: Once very early in my Christian life, I was studying the 23^rd Psalm and came to the line, “He restoreth my soul.” I realized as I studied that the picture there was of a “cast” sheep. When sheep get very heavy with wool (just before they’re sheared), it is possible for them to get upside down like a turtle and then be completely unable to right themselves again. If left in that position they simply die there upside down kicking their little legs in the air and bleating for help. That in the Psalm is, of course, me. That is precisely where the Lord found me – upside down, helpless, and doomed – although not innocent like the sheep, but rather the very one (idiot) who got me into this mess to start with! And what does He do when He finds this idiot sinner hopeless and helpless, upside down with his legs in the air crying for help? His justice would say, “You reap what you sow. You got yourself into this, get yourself out. You made the bed, now sleep in it. You got here ignoring Me, why shouldn’t I ignore you?” But what does He do? “He restoreth my soul!” He reaches down and uprights my silly body.

When I saw that picture, I sat and cried my eyes out for about ten minutes. Why? Because I was overwhelmed with amazement – that He really is gracious and compassionate! Today I am still amazed by grace. I often resort to Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” I have plenty of “times of need” but to this day I find my heart reluctant to go to the Lord aware of all my sins and failures. What He should do is just send down fire from Heaven and be done with me. But that verse reminds me it’s all about Jesus, my great high priest, and because of Him I am freed to go boldly to God’s throne and find that indeed, “Gracious and compassionate [is] the LORD!”

I would go so far as to say this is to me the wonder of wonders – to find that God is gracious and compassionate. When one sets out to “know God” I suppose we all have our preconceived notions of who He is and what He is like. Everyone’s natural assumption, it seems, is that He is very stern and demanding, that He will like you only as long as you keep all the rules, that He is utterly disgusted by all our miserable failures and weaknesses. But as you get to really “know” Him, you find that isn’t true at all. Oh, yes, He wants us to do right, but that is because He loves us and wants the best for us. In fact, it is no coincidence that one of His names is Father. He sees us not through the eyes of His justice but rather through the eyes of a parent seeing their child. To any of us who have children, that should immediately make total sense to us. No matter what they do, no matter how they might fail, they are and always will be precious in our sight. And, because of Jesus, that is exactly how the Lord sees us. In this light, I love Zeph 3:17: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.”

What Psalms 111:4 seems to be saying is that the Lord wants us to be amazed while we remember His grace and compassion, that it is a good thing to be so amazed and to choose to think on and remember who He really is – not the stern demanding bully most people think He is, but rather our Father who loves us beyond our wildest imagination!

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!

Psalm 111:1,2 – “Delight”

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

Praise the LORD.

¹I will praise the LORD with all of [my] heart, in council of the upright and assembly. ²Great [are] the doings of the LORD, being sought to/by all of delights of them.

Before I move on to verse 3, I want to record a couple observations from the Hebrew text of verse 2.

The NIV translates the verse, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” The word translated “pondered” is interesting. It is “darash” in Hebrew and gets translated many different ways by words like “searched,” “sought out,” “treasured,” “desired,” “kept in mind,” “studied,” “examined,” etc. This is one of those places one has to get in a Hebrew mindset and remember the Hebrew mind didn’t present “facts” but rather painted pictures. The picture the word paints is of taking something and beating it, thrashing it, rubbing it, trying to glean something from it, like beating up corn kernels to work out the starch.

So the picture is that we take the works of the Lord in their greatness and do just that – we rub them, and turn them over and over, and look at them from this way and that, pull them apart, and basically just do “all of the above.” That is why the word gets translated so many different ways. Everyone is trying to express this idea in English, which, unfortunately is a great language for presenting facts, but a poor one for painting pictures. One can see why the NIV “pondered” is not at all a bad choice – it just doesn’t say enough.

What we can take from all of this is that the Lord actually wants us to “darash” His works, to ponder them and study them and search them out, to “beat them and thrash them and rub them!” And note, in this case, it isn’t His words, but His works. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Some people think the only legitimate studies are purely religious, that scientific inquiry is a waste of time or even profane – and certainly nothing the Lord has any interest in. But Psalm 111:2 would beg to differ. I obviously love to study the Word itself, and to “darash” it right down to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek letters. To study God’s Word is profoundly rewarding. But I am also a scientist. I love to study the math and the physics, the chemistry and biochemistry, the astronomy of the universe and the atomic structure beneath it all, to understand why water freezes at 32º and boils at 212 º, why iron rusts but gold does not, why the sky is blue and sunsets are red. But in all of that, it isn’t the “knowledge” in and of itself I enjoy. What makes it breathtaking is to see in all of it the absolutely amazing workings of my awesome God, the Creator, the Maker of it all; the “works of His fingers, the moon and the stars which He set in place …”

The very essence of being an engineer is the belief that our universe is ruled by very orderly laws and that, understanding those laws, we can take them and use them and in a million different ways do good to the human race. Our world is not run by magic. It is ruled by laws, like the familiar “law of gravity.” And where do all those laws come from? May I introduce you to their Creator? His name is Yahveh, Adonai, Jehovah, the Lord, the God who came to earth and walked among us, Jesus, the Savior of the world! And so anyone reading this can see why we should study not only the words of the Lord but His works as well – they all lead us back to Him and leave us amazed.

The other word I wanted to note needs little introduction at this point, but is the word translated “delight” – “pondered by all who delight in them.” It is the word “hafatz” and in the Hebrew it isn’t really clear whether we are delighting in God’s works or if they are delightful. In English we demand to know which it is. In Hebrew, I doubt they cared. It’s back to their “picture” mindset. They would probably ask, “Why do you need to know? The fact is God’s works are delightful and so anyone who really ponders them will delight in them. Yes?” Yes. As I hope anyone else feels, one word that overarches all of the considerations of God’s Word and His works (and anything else to do with Him) is “delight!” I can think of nothing else so true. To know God is to know delight, to be delighted at every turn. “Hafatz” is simply part of knowing Him.

He is amazing. It is true – His works are glorious. He is glorious.

As the Psalm begins, “Praise the Lord!”

Psalm 111:1,2 – “Cotton Candy”

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

Praise the LORD.

¹I will praise the LORD with all of [my] heart, in council of the upright and assembly. ²Great [are] the doings of the LORD, being sought to/by all of delights of them.

How fun! Studying Psalms is like cotton candy – absolute, pure, sweetness.

For some good reason (of which my failing memory eludes me now), I resolved to study Psalm 112. However, when I arrived there and began to study, I realized that 112 actually follows 111 logically – and perhaps intentionally, possibly written by the same author on the same occasion and intended to be enjoyed together. They are both acrostic psalms and 111 presents the greatness of God while 112 explores the life of those who believe 111. So … I then resolved to study 111 first and (hopefully) then to peruse 112’s delights.

As usual, and of course, I no sooner than wade into the first few words of this Psalm and all that absolute, pure, cotton-candy sweetness floods back into my heart.

The title of the Psalm, like 112, is simply “Praise the Lord!” or the familiar transliteration, “Hallelujah!” And that it is.

In verse 1, the writer states his determination to do just that – to praise the Lord; and he says he will do it with “all [my] heart” and “in the council of the upright and assembly.” Of course it is “with all my heart.” The Lord is certainly worthy of no less. Our proud, evil hearts exist in divided allegiance between the Lord and all our petty lusts. In this world, we’ll never be entirely free of being thus “double-minded” but the truly godly at least resolve to (and ask) for “undivided hearts.”

Right off the bat, though, the very words of this Psalm remind me of what the Lord seems to have been teaching me lately, and that is this – that I don’t “change” very well because I resolve to. What changes me is rather to see and be consumed by His beautiful face. In this case, I can try to whomp up a big “all my heart” praise. But, after nearly 40 years of knowing Him, I find I’m not a very good “whomper.” The Law is forever saying to me, “Do this and live” and I try and simply fail. Grace says to me, “Live! … and do this” Rather than getting stuck in verse 1 and “whomping,” all I really need to do is wade right on into verse 2: “Great are the works of the Lord.” When I let my heart fall headlong into pondering the greatness of His works, I find myself praising Him … with all my heart!

What do I mean?

The works of the Lord – or literally, His “doings.” Goodness me. “The heavens declare the glory of God!” I am a scientist. Everywhere I look, whether out into the universe, or under the microscope, I am utterly amazed at the absolute wonder of His creations. There are stars out there that could holds thousands of our sun! We are in the Milky Way galaxy, yet one of the “stars” we think we see in the night sky is not a star at all, but rather the Andromeda Galaxy – an entire ‘nother galaxy of millions of stars spinning around a center, with planets spinning around those stars. And there are no doubt millions of galaxies. I look under the microscope and see an entire world of tiny creatures all living and moving (and eating each other!).

I look around and see the wonder of nature, the incredible intricacy and beauty of this world the Lord created for us to live in. As I sit here typing, out my window it is an absolutely beautiful Spring day with the trees dawning their emerald crowns, birds singing angel sounds, and the delightful, wonderful sunshine gracing everything with its bejeweling glitter.

I live in complete awe of the beautiful wife He gave me. We’ll soon celebrate our 33^rd anniversary and she is still to me the most beautiful creature who ever graced the face of the earth – and she’s my wife! Add to that she has done me good and not evil all the days of her life, stuck with me through it all, mothered my children, keeps me fed and watered, and just an absolute, total, complete blessing – a gift provided to me straight from the heart of my awesome God.

Then my mind races across so much wonder and blessing to dwell on Jesus Himself and the wonder of redemption. “And can it be, that I should gain an interest in His righteousness? Died He for me, who caused His pain, for me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be???”

My whole heart just wants to praise Him – not because I “whomped” it up, but because of His absolutely amazing beautiful face!

And so it begins – another wonderful stroll through a blessed psalm! Another mouthful of cotton candy! Another beautiful sunshiny spring day!

Bring it on!