If you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday… what would your life look like? I thought about that this week and was amazed at all of the blessings I take for granted. Physical blessings like health, family, friends, food, clothing, safety… and the more important – eternal blessings of peace with God, sins forgiven, purpose in life, eternity with God… I fear that very often my life looks like one of those nine lepers who were healed by Jesus in our Gospel reading today… I take the gifts of God and run off without pausing to thank the Giver. Can you relate?
Great Are the Works of the LORD. This is the message we see in our sermon text today from Psalm 111. And we’re going to take advantage of the time we have right now to remember his wonders and respond with praise.
“Praise” is really what Psalm 111 is all about. It belongs to a category of psalms known as the Hallels since it began with the Hebrew word “Hallelu-Yah”, which means “praise Yahweh” or “praise the LORD” as are used to seeing. Yahweh – the name we translate as LORD, with all capital letters, was God’s special name in the Old Testament. It reminded the people he was the God who is… he always has and always will exist… he always has and always will be faithful… this special name reminded God’s people that they had a God of free and faithful grace who would never change and who would always do what he promised in his Word. And so right from the start of this psalm we are reminded of one of the reasons to praise the LORD… is simply because he is the LORD.
It’s interesting also, that after the initial call to praise the LORD at the beginning of this psalm, the rest of this song of praise is written as an acrostic, which means each line of the psalm begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s almost as if the writer wanted to remind us that from A-Z we have a lot of reasons to praise the LORD.
Let’s consider those as we walk through the text today. The psalmist says in verse two: Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. The vastness of our universe, do we ponder that? The beauty of a sunset… the complexity of the human body… all these things are the works of God our Creator. In a world that often tries to write God out of it… God’s works testify that he exists and that he’s amazing. As we’re told in another psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard (Psalm 19:1-3).
But it’s not just the work of creation that gives us reason to praise, we’re told in verse three: Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. The things God has done since creation are just as beautiful and awe-inspiring. The work of preserving this world… feeding this world… and meeting the sin of this world with his compassion… well, that’s not something we should gloss over as we praise him. His preservation of our physical lives and his rescue of our spiritual lives… they are amazing. Jesus said: God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). And speaking of righteousness… humanity’s righteousness… our perfection did not stand forever… in fact our human race fell quickly into sin and lost our standing with God. But God’s perfection never fails and stands forever. And through faith in Christ it covers those who believe so that God can see us as holy once again.
And verse four of this psalm reminds us that this truth about God… well, that’s something our LORD has reminded us of again and again. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. The things God has done for this lost world and for the people he calls out of it to be his own are nothing short of miracles… wonders… and he reminds us of those every time we read his Word and see the things he did for the people of this world throughout history. The history of this world really is “history” in the sense of being “his-story” – God’s story which teaches us of the grace and compassion of a God who loves the undeserving and seeks them when they run the other way.
We see this great truth play out all over the pages of Scripture and all over the pages of our lives don’t we? When we are at our worst, God is at his best. He searched out Adam and Even when they hid in their shame after the fall into sin… and he restored them and promised them a Savior. He guarded his saving truth and the line of the Savior from a world in rebellion when he rescued Noah and his family in the midst of a global flood. The LORD met the bitterness and sorrow of his people Israel in Egypt with miracles and mercy and deliverance from slavery… He met their grumbling in the desert with discipline but also compassion as he fed them on their journey. And despite his people’s frequent rebellion and thankless attitudes he did not forget his promise to help them… his promise to send them… to send this world a Savior through them.
And in that Savior… in Jesus we see the fulfillment of this psalm. In verse nine we’re told: He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name. God’s ultimate redemption of his people came when he entered this world as a man and kept the covenant… the promise he had made to undo their sin and the eternal destruction it had brought with it. Jesus provided redemption for us as he laid down his life on the cross and then took it up again on Easter morning. Holy and awesome is his name… the name of Jesus means “The LORD saves” – and that’s just what he did. When we pause to remember his wonders, we can’t help but confess: Great are the works of the LORD!
Look… I know that you have many days where this seems hard to remember… days where it’s easier to find things to complain about than to be thankful for. I’ve had weeks where it feels like nothing I do is good enough… where I’m letting down everyone around me… or they’re letting me down. I hear you as you share your struggles with me and ask for prayers… prayers for the marriage in crisis… for the cancer diagnosis… for the unending medical issues… for the fear and loneliness that creeps into your old age… And if that weren’t enough I read the news too. I watched Hurricane Matthew rip through the Caribbean, ending the lives of hundreds, displacing thousands, causing billions in damage… And I see the anger in people’s faces and on their facebook walls as our nation draws up political and racial battle lines… as our freedom to practice our faith comes under attack… I know these things can very easily occupy our thoughts and push the works of the LORD far from our minds…
But the fact that we so easily can become pessimistic about this life… is the very reason why we need to hear again and again how our God gives us so many reasons to be optimistic as we face difficulties in life and as we consider the big picture of our existence. When we pause to reflect… when we stop to study and ponder his Word… when we taste his forgiveness at the altar and hear his blessing announced on us… that’s when our pessimism gives way to praise… That’s how our daily list of complaints can transform into a daily list of thanks.
I’d like all of you to spend some time today – today! – making a list of all the things in your life that you have to be thankful for… If you really want to get into the spirit of this psalm you could try listing things from A-Z. I promise you, that if you try that… if you pause to remember God’s great works… you’ll have more to be thankful for than you could even imagine…
And remembering God’s great works is what will cause you to respond with praise. Praise here in church… as the psalmist wrote: in the council of the upright and in the assembly. What a joy to gather with others and remind one another that while life does not always go how we plan or how we want, we have a God who stands above it all and offers hope and purpose for his people.
And our praise for God doesn’t simply stop after church is over… you’ll praise the LORD in your life as you tremble in wonder and awe before his Word and marvel at who he is and what he’s done. You’ll find as you study his Word that you’re better equipped to face life’s challenges with confidence and to confront your sins and your fears and your frustrations with the strength God provides and the mercy he freely gives.
And even after this life ends our praise to God will not… Because of Jesus you have an eternity waiting for you with the LORD… a heaven where you will live forever and praise forever… because forever is the only amount of time that will ever be adequate to thank God and praise him for all he has done in creating us and redeeming us and sustaining us on the way home. In the closing words of our psalm: To him belongs eternal praise. Hallelujah! Praise the LORD brothers and sisters! Amen.