Psalm 111:9 – “What Matters”

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

⁹He has sent redemption to His people;

   He has commanded His covenant to [the] ages;

  Holy and fearsome [is] His name.

“He has sent redemption to His people.” As I have been studying this verse I fear that the familiarity of the words renders them almost meaningless. “Redemption? God gave us redemption? Oh, yeah, sure, I know that.” That is what I find my heart seeming to say. But then I back up and remind myself, “Wait a minute! That is probably one of the most profound, important truths in our fallen existence!”

Part of why I’m typing now is to shake myself out of this lethargy and to help me duly appreciate these words. “He has sent redemption to His people.”

First of all, as we would read back through this entire Psalm, none of it would do us any good without redemption. What good would it do me that God is faithful, that He is truth, that He is a God of grace and compassion if there was no redemption? In fact, the very words of the Psalm would be a terror to me. As the last line of verse 9 says, “Holy and fearsome is His name!” The same God who is faithful to keep His promises to His people is the same God who will fulfill every threat He ever uttered against those who reject Him! The same God who is able to do us good “exceedingly, abundantly above anything we could have asked or thought” is also able to punish “exceedingly, abundantly above anything we could have asked or thought!” As Heaven is inconceivably glorious, hell will be an unthinkable terror!

No matter how good and kind and loving and powerful and faithful God is, none of that helps me unless there is redemption. And the fact is “He has sent redemption to His people.”

Once again, we see how amazing our God is and how perfect is His rule over us. He not only gives us much, but He makes sure He gives us what we need most. As a parent, we love our children as much as human love is even possible. We would not hesitate to die in their place. Especially as they’re growing up, we try to give them everything we possibly can to help them become the adults they’ll need to be. And yet, when years have passed, we look back and realize we should have given them so much more. It is eminently possible that, even in our love, while we tried to give them everything, we failed to give them what they needed most. I look back and realize that I tried to teach my children to obey God but I’m afraid I utterly failed to teach them to love God. Now I find, after years have passed, that the most important thing is to love Him, just as it says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Obedience is properly the expression of love. To be less, to be obedient out of some sense of duty, is certainly better than sinning (and its consequences), but it is far short of the life the Lord intends us to enjoy. So I find that even the greatest of human love can fail in the sense that, though it gave much, it failed to give what was needed most.

Not so with our Lord. “He has sent redemption to His people.” He has given us the one thing that mattered above all else. He could decide not to give us anything else, to let us starve or freeze to death, to leave us to be murdered by our enemies, to go completely bankrupt, blind, deaf, dumb, and lame -- but give us redemption, and in the end we would have received the only thing that really mattered! And that is what He has given!

I Peter 1:8 reminds us, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Psalm 130:7 says, “O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.”

We can and should put our hope in Him, for the very reason that He has done for us the one thing we needed most. He has given us much, much, much, but in His great wisdom and love, He made sure in all of that He gave us that without which all else would have been in vain. He really is the best King and the best Father.

One scary thought is that, although He has sent redemption, each individual has to decide whether to accept it. He will in fact go on sending His sun to shine and making His rain to fall, to give human beings life and health and families and so many things, but it is incumbent upon each one of us to accept that one thing without which all else is in vain – the gift of redemption. “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Our good and wise and loving Lord has provided redemption. May we be wise enough to accept it!