Psalm 111: A Call to Contemplate God

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
October 14, 2025
Psalm 111

At the beginning of worship: 

Throughout September, I jotted down sightings from my deck and as I walked the backroads around Laurel Fork. Then, as I was driving back and forth from Wilmington last week, I tried to organize them into a poem which I titled “September from My Back Deck.” I’ll read it to you:

Queen Anne rolls up her lace early
as the chicory and black-eyed susans fade,
replaced by golden rods and the limby yellow wingstem 
growing along the ditch banks with an occasional bunch of purple  ironweed.

The leaves on the walnuts and hickories remain green
but much paler than at midsummer
Occasionally I jump, as if being shot at, when a hickory nut
pings off the barn’s metal roof. 

Only a handful of birds now sing at dawn,
and the sound of insects at night are softer than a month ago.
The lightning bugs disappeared and the last of the yellow finches’ head south
but wooly bear caterpillars show up, some say, forecasting a bad winter.

The bears are less active than in the spring, 
and it’s easier to see groundhogs now the hay has been cut a final time.
The deer move in large herds, as the fawns lose their spots
and the bucks grow antlers.

After dark, which comes earlier as the month progresses,
I watch Cygnus the swan fly higher 
followed by his fellow aviator, Pegasus, the flying horse,
and if I stay up late, I’ll see the fall constellations rise.

The days remain warm, but some mornings feel chilly,
the rain colder and the morning fog denser than just a month ago.
I catch a whiff of smoke from a burning field or brush pile, 
soon to be replaced by woodsmoke.

I posted the poem in my blog this week and didn’t think about this at the time. But Jacqui, a regular reader, quickly responded, “That catches all of God’s blessings.”^[1] This was a good insight. Today, as we finish up this tour through the Psalms, I want us to consider how we think about God. Do we spend time contemplating what God has done for us?  

You know, most of us know how to go to God in prayer when we are in need. Many of us also know how to pray and give thanks to God for the blessings we’ve enjoyed. We know how to pray for the needs of others. But probably fewer of us are as competent when it comes to praising God for just being God. But such praised is called for throughout scripture.  And I hope today you’ll consider all of God’s blessings and how they should draw you into praise. 

Before reading the scripture:

We’re concluding out time with the Psalms as we look at Psalm 111. As I’ve done through this series, I used Psalms suggested by the lectionary. If I had already preached on that Psalm, then I went to another lectionary.^[2] Though such madness, I find that I’m preaching on Psalm 111 six weeks after preaching on Psalm 112. I now realize this wis unfortunate. The two passages are linked together, which I alluded to when I preached on the latter Psalm.^[3]

Psalm 111 is in the wisdom tradition. Parts of the Psalm sounds like Proverbs. Also, like Psalm 112, the poetic structure of this Psalm is acrostic. Each line within the passage begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Finally, the Psalm focuses on God. But the Psalm doesn’t deal with God in the esoteric, such as the wonder of creation.^[4] Instead, the Psalmist focuses on what God has done for his people. 

The voice of the Psalm is an individual, but his or her concern is of community interest as the Psalmist announces at the end of the first verse.^[5] He will praise the Lord, but he’s going to do it in the company of God’s people. Praising God when we are alone doesn’t provide the glory the Almighty deserves. In our call to worship this morning, I adapted the opening to make the Psalm reflect such community participation.^[6] Let’s listen to this Psalm.

Read Psalm 111

As I indicated earlier, back at the end of August I preached on Psalm 112. In that passage, the Psalmist encourages us to strive to live righteous lives with a promise of great blessing. Psalm 111 also focuses on righteousness, but here it’s about the righteousness of God. Maybe I should have reversed the two sermons, but it’s too late for that. In addition, it’s probably good for us to end this tour through some of the Psalms with one that encourages contemplation. This Psalm invites us to ponder the nature of God. 

One of the purposes of the Psalms is to model honest prayer. I hope you have come to an understanding how we might use the Psalms for our own prayers. Or at least, we can use them as a starting point to kick off our prayers. I often do this when writing pastoral prayers.  And because there are so many Psalms, which address all forms of emotions and needs, we shouldn’t be without words to help us convey our thoughts to God. 

Like Psalm 112, this is another Halleluiah psalms. Our version of scripture translates Halleluiah as “Praise the Lord.” As I said with the other Psalm, Halleluiah, is a transliteration of the Hebrew. And it’s an imperative. In other words, the Psalm begins with a command for us to praise God. 

The Psalmist then models such praise. She or he gives thanks to God with his or her whole heart, and with everyone else who believes in God. The Psalmist has spent time studying or pondering the works of the Lord. From his or her study, the works of God are found to be great, honorable, majestic, and righteous. The Lord endures forever. We find this key understanding throughout the Hebrew scriptures, which equate our lives with that of a flower, that blooms beautifully and then fade away. God, however, is eternal.^[7]

The Psalmist then recalls God’s wonderful deeds. Providing food for those who fear God would immediately make the Hebrew people recall God nourishing those fleeing Egypt during the Exodus with manna. God being mindful of his covenant reminds the people of Sinai, where God gave the law and formally established a covenant which went back to Abraham. Giving God’s people the heritage of the nation links to Joshua’s conquest and the establishment of a nation. 

The praise continues, moving from deeds completed to God’s integrity: faithfulness, just, trustworthy, and righteous. Then, the Psalmists returns to God’s action, the redemption of his people. Here, those of us on this side of the resurrection, immediately think of the coming of Jesus, who redeems us of our sin. 

Finally, the Psalm ends by repeating a common saying found in wisdom literature, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”^[8] Of course, fear here doesn’t mean being afraid of God. After all, if the Lord is everything the Psalmist confesses—faithful, just, trustworthy, and willing to redeem—then there should be little to fear for those who seek to live righteous lives. Instead, fear here is more like “awe.” We stand in awe before God and all of God’s works. 

As I have indicated, this is a wisdom psalm, but one which is also linked to our redemption as we see in verse 9.  We should understand that wisdom is different that knowledge. As one commentator notes, “Knowledge is book learning.” Wisdom is more like street smarts. You don’t learn it from school. It comes from having been around the block a few times.^[9] In the case of our relationship with God, wisdom comes from contemplating what God has done and standing in awe as we say, “Thank You.”  

Psalm 111 invites us to pause for a moment and consider God’s nature. God directs us in Psalm 46 to “be still and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth.”^[10]   

When we spend time thinking about God’s nature, we build ourselves a solid spiritual foundation from which we can continue to grow in Christ. So, take time as did the Psalmist to contemplate what God has done for you, for us, and for the world. And let such knowledge draw you into praise. Amen. 

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^[1] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/10/09/september-from-my-back-deck/

^[2] The one exception was the sermon on September 28, which I adapted a former sermon as I spent much of that week on a mission trip.  Mostly I drew the Psalms from the Revised Common Lectionary. 

^[3] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/08/31/psalm-112-the-blessing-of-the-righteous/

^[4] Psalm 8 is an example of a creation psalm. 

^[5] James L. Mays, Psalms: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1994), 335.  (other individual Psalms include 8,103, 104, 145, 146).

^[6] I used the Message translation for the opening line which I adapted: “Hallelujah! We give thanks to God with everything we’ve got.”

^[7] See Isaiah 40:7-8.

^[8] See Job 28:28 and Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10. For similar ideas, see Proverbs 15:33, Isaiah 11:2 and 33:6. 

^[9] Scott Hoezee,  https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2025-10-06/psalm-111-10/

^[10] Psalm 46:10.