¹Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.

Pure praise describes the Lord’s character in the way He interacts with His creation. Some praise focuses on what God has specifically done in the writer’s immediate situation, which invokes our adulation, applause, and admiration of Him. In contrast, descriptive praise goes beyond and draws attention more toward God’s greatness as the author reflects the kinds of things that show forth the Lord’s greatness in general. To put it this way, he is saying, “I praise and thank God because He does these sorts of things.” By saying that this is “beyond” praising Him for what He has done for us, we mean our attention is on the Lord independent of any personal benefit we have received from Him. If only we would all move more and more in this direction in our relationship with our Creator!

In meditating on God, the writer uses an acrostic to proclaim His greatness poetically; each line of thought begins with a successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. (Other psalms that use this poetic form are Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145). The first line (after the initial “Praise the Lord”) starts with an aleph, the first letter of the alphabet: “I will give thanks to the Lord ….” The second line begins with a bet: “In the company of the upright …” and so on. The first eight verses have two lines each (employing the first sixteen Hebrew letters), and the last two contain three lines each (using the last six Hebrew letters).

Noting the acrostic form may not affect our interpretation of the psalm, but the psalmist is writing for corporate praise and memory retention. Educators have long recognized the use of literary patterns for conveying information in memorable ways that command our attention. Although in English translations we don’t catch this acrostic, we do understand by this awareness that there are twenty-two distinct lines of the proclamation of God’s greatness. This psalm presents an individual praise penned by the author. It is intended to give an excellent and, we might say, ornate expression of praise for broader use—particularly helpful for those of us with less ability at expressing our thoughts of praise in words.

An analogy will help us understand this. God raised up skilled artisans, Bazalel and Oholiab, who were uniquely gifted, to oversee the design and construction of the wilderness Tabernacle, the place of worship and sacrifice for ancient Israel (Exodus 31:1-6). That tent was beautiful and fabulously ornate and presented an earthly representation of the heavenly realm (Heb. 8:7). To enter the Tabernacle was to have one’s senses filled with God’s beauty. In the same way as God has given gifted artists to help His people worship, He has gifted psalm writers to offer words that allow us to express our praise to God. Therefore, we benefit from reciting the words of Psalm 111 as our own expression of thanks and praise to our God for all His greatness.

Descriptive words abound in this hymn: the Lord’s works are great, studied, splendid, majestic, and remembered. They are characterized as truth, justice, and uprightness. For those who are His people, He remembers His promises and acts on their behalf accordingly as promised. He is gracious and compassionate. Finally, the psalm lays out the foundation of all God’s doings with Israel, namely, His redemption from slavery in Egypt and giving the covenant “forever.” No wonder the writer breaks out in simple, unadulterated praise: “Holy and awesome is His name.”

Even in this altruistic poem of praise, a verse of wisdom is judiciously added (reminiscent of Proverbs 9:10). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” followed by the implied injunction: “A good understanding have all those who do His commandments” (vs. 10a). Yes, all praise leads to the caution that we still need to obey the Lord, for as the prophet Samuel said to the duplicitous King Saul,

“Has the Lord  as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22).

Indeed, in light of how this psalm ends, we can also say, “While our praise is good, what God desires even more is our obedience.” This caveat always keeps us from putting on a show of praise while being hypocrites in our disobedience.

Having that caution, the psalm ends with praise, “His praise endures forever” (vs. 10b). Our praise joins with the multitude of the faithful who ring out a chorus across all generations and places, both in the past, present, and future. It will never end!

Lord, You are deserving of all praise, adoration, and worship. Holy and awesome is Your name!

Change to all caps [JP1]