Psalm 111 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord Praised for His Goodness.

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
² Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.
³Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has made His wonders to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
⁵ He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
⁶ He has made known to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.

⁷ The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
⁸ They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.
⁹ He has sent redemption to His people;
He has ordained His covenant forever;
Holy and awesome is His name.
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Today’s text ends saying:  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but wisdom is completed through obedience to the Lord. In Psalm 119:12-16 the psalmist says:  Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes.  With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth.  I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. We increase in wisdom as we meditate on His statutes. It is good to fellowship and commune with God; to speak with Him and listen to His voice. If however we hear something that does not align with what God has said in His written word, we should question the source or our interpretation. The psalmist says: A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.  We should understand that it is easier to do what God says than it is to oppose Him.  In Acts 26:14-15, when Paul recounted his encounter with Chist, he said:  I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.   Like Paul, everything that we do is more difficult, a struggle and striving, if we are opposed to God and His will.  In Matthew 11:29-30 Jesus says:  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  When we yield to Jesus and walk and work with Him, it becomes easier because Jesus does the work. In June 14:12-14 Jesus says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.  Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

The psalmist says:  Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.
Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever.
 He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.  The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure.  They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.  If we are obedient to God and if we are yoked and submitted to Christ, doing the works that He did, we will not only thank and praise the Lord for His righteousness, His grace and compassion; that His works are truth and justice; we will not only thank and praise Him for sending redemption, but we will also declare it to others. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says:  “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” In Mark 16:15 He says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  In Acts 1:8 Jesus says:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”   These too are commandments of the Lord to His disciples.  James 4:17 says:  To one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.   Amen.