Even though this is the psalm assigned to this week, it’s almost impossible to read it without also reading Psalm 112. Both are acrostic poems of 22 lines, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 111 celebrates all that God has done: provided food, kept covenants, and redeemed God’s people. It also highlights what attributes characterize God: gracious and merciful, faithful and just, holy and awesome. It ends with, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.” Psalm 112 begins with, “Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.”
The connection seems obvious. It is almost like the psalmist is saying that because the Lord is gracious, merciful, and just, keeping the covenant of being our God, we can uphold our end of the covenant. We can be God’s people, exhibiting those same traits in our own lives and doing the work that God sets out to do through us. We can love because God first loved us. We can forgive because we have been forgiven. We can be merciful because we have been shown mercy. We can be faithful because God has been faithful to us.
Take a few minutes today to write your own acrostic. It could be the whole alphabet or spell out a special word. Have each line begin with something that God has done or with an attribute of God.
