Psalm 111

¹ Praise the LORD, I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
² Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
³ Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
⁵ He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.
⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
⁸ They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever-holy and awesome is his name.
¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Last night during the silent of my time in prayer, I realized how important the very first verse of the Bible is to humanity “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. God is responsible for our very being; however, we become so wrapped up in our affairs and the social environment in which we live in that we forget that God even exist. The world around us has taken God out of the picture. God is either too big to care about the events of our individual lives, or he really does not exist. This psalm helps bring us back to the simple relationship we need to have with God. God is our creator and we are his creation. After reading Proverbs twenty-two, I realized that “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all”. All men must call him creator.

First, we must praise and extol the One who made our being possible. Do this with your entire heart. The path of knowledge starts with this simple understanding of “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. If you do not have this as the foundation and starting point to ponder everything you see, hear, taste, and touch then your thoughts will lead to the wrong conclusions. Today as you read, the psalms focus on the phrase the fear of the Lord. This fear is the starting point in understanding the world around you.

When I consider the second part of verse ten “all who follow his precepts have good understanding”, I cannot help but place an emphasis of the importance of starting the day out with the Word. The world is ready to let us know our problems. In Genesis, three Adam and Eve hide from God because they were afraid and naked. As we study the account of the fall in Genesis chapter three, we realize that God did not asked Adam why he was afraid; but instead ask him “who told you that you were naked?” However, before Adam could reply to God’s answer God ask Adam another question “have you eaten from the tree?” Adam’s reply it was the woman who you gave me that gave me the fruit. So, in fact, Adam blames God instead of taking the blame himself. In I Timothy 2 :14 we realize that Adam was not deceived or beguiled, but freely chose to take the fruit. Whom do we listen to every day? The world around you, or God? Therefore, do we follow God’s precepts, or do we listen to the world?