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!