Thursday, January 28, 2021
Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! He gives food to those who fear him; he always remembers his covenant. He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the lands of other nations. All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has! Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever! Psalm 111:1-10
Have you experienced buying a new car (or, for us common folk, new-to-you
car, a.k.a. ‘used’ jalopy)…and you’d hardly ever noticed that model on
the road, and now that’s all you see?
This seems to happen with Bible study too. I’ve just started preaching a series from the
New Testament book of James on growing to maturity in your life as a disciple. Now everything I read in Scripture seems to
jump off the page about maturing in Christ.
That’s what “pondering” will do; it gets you thinking deeply, seeing
more clearly, and considering the weight of what you held previously, and what
it might be like to either change or not.
To keep the car metaphor going, it’s more than a cursory test drive, it’s
leasing the vehicle for a few years to see if you will keep it. You drive it day in and out, long trips cross
country, daily to work, leisurely cruises on back country roads, and navigating
the potholes and traffic snarls in the city.
You see how your life changes with this model.
Discipleship, learning to be Jesus’ co-laborer and servant, is like
that; you want to serve better this year than last, so you keep digging, every
day, deeper, longer, wider, and praying for understanding and courage to apply
what He shows you.
Pondering God’s creation and all His works of mercy and justice are a
lifetime project. The Psalmist looks
around this way and, everywhere there is mercy, goodness, provision for our
needs. The glory of our Lord and His
righteous, trustworthy judgment are so overwhelming, the Psalmist breaks into
spontaneous praise, a doxology of encouragement to people everywhere to ponder
it all and praise Him forever.
There is such a sense of direction and life to this Psalm; it
continually points you to always look under the Christmas tree for the next
surprise. There is covenant,
commandment, and merciful substitution of atonement laying all around as a
field of wildflowers just waiting to be adored and to adorn our ways. And the more you gather with others,
like-minded to search the unfathomable riches of Christ Jesus[1] you cannot help but lift up holy hands and be transported to the very
throne room, a foreshadowing of transformation into the image of Christ.
To put it on the lower shelf – He changes you, and it’s all good!
For You Today
Maturing in Jesus Christ is not just memorizing Scripture verses and
keeping a long list of the bad stuff you won’t do, and the good stuff you’ll work
at…it’s pondering and discovering the depth of blessing that is God’s will for
your life. It’s humbling, because we know
we don’t deserve a bit of it; but what joy to know it’s true!
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Psalm 111 see Faith Maturing and When God is Your Whole World
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