Psalm 111 – Whole Heart
Psalm 111 – whole heart, begins by the psalmist stating he will praise God with his whole heart. What does he mean by whole heart? Why does God deserve our whole heart and nothing less?
Psalm 111
Psalm 111 is the first in a series of psalms of praise, psalms 111 – 118, where the word hallelujah, or praise the Lord, echoes throughout the psalms. An acrostic masterpiece, it begins with the call to praise God with whole heart then gives reasons why.
“Psalm 111 is a succinct and masterful acrostic poem. It consists of twenty-two phrases (excluding verse 1a), each of which begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In a mere seventy-two words, the psalmist summarizes the whole history of God’s deliverance of ancient Israel in the following structure:
Verse 1: A Vow to Give Thanks
Verses 2-4: The Deeds of the Lord Praised
Verses 5-9: The Deeds of the Lord Described
Verse 10: An Introduction to Wisdom” Commentary on Psalm 111 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
We start with the call to worship.
“Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” (NIV 1)
Other translations begin with alleluia or hallelujah and translate all my heart as “my whole heart.”
As some commentators state: “He will give thanks to YHWH with his whole heart. Worship is first of all an act of the heart, not just the body. The psalmist’s heart is in it, and not just a part of it. This whole-hearted gratitude for all the God is all that he has done.” Psalm 111 Commentary — Psalms in Life
“God cannot be acceptably praised with a divided heart, neither should we attempt so to dishonour him; for our whole heart is little enough for his glory, and there can be no reason why it should not all be lifted up in his praise.” (Spurgeon) Enduring Word Bible Commentary Psalm 111
God’s Works
The writer then praises God’s works:
“Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” (2-4)
And elaborates on what those works are: providing food, land, and laws.”
“He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever—holy and awesome is his name.” (5-9)
The Beginning of Wisdom
The author concludes with words about wisdom, echoing the message of Proverbs.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” (10)
Fear, here, is not about gripping, white-knuckled terror we often associate with the word, but reverence and awe before the Lord. One commentator even equates it with love.
“The word “fear” (yara’) appears in the Hebrew Bible as a synonym for “love” (Deuteronomy 10:12); “cling to” (Deuteronomy 10:20); and “serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13; Joshua 24:14). At its root, the word denotes obedience to the divine will. The Hebrew word for “fear” is powerful in meaning, but it has more to do with feelings of awesomeness.” Commentary on Psalm 111 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
Fear is the appropriate response to God’s greatness.
“Recognizing the greatness of God’s works, one should appropriately fear Him. God should be regarded with respect, reverence, and awe. This proper attitude of the creature toward the Creator is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom cannot advance further until this starting point is established.” Enduring Word Bible Commentary Psalm 111
It is the foundation for wisdom and thus essential.
“The foundation of wisdom is an acknowledgement of the existence and authority of God over your life … The emphasis of this text is on the foundation of wisdom, the starting point. If you are building on a foundation other than the reality of God, you are building your thinking and your behavior on a false floor and it will not bear the weight of reality.” Psalm 111 Commentary — Psalms in Life
Heart in the Bible
The word heart appears almost 1,000 times in the Bible. Contrary to today’s understanding of heart as the seat of emotion and the brain as the center of the intellect, there is no such division in the biblical understanding of heart. The heart in the Bible encompasses all of our inner being.
“Whenever we read the word “heart” in Scripture, we should first understand it as a comprehensive term that captures the totality and unity of our inner nature. For John Owen, the heart indicated all the faculties of man’s spiritual life and the one principle of our moral operations.9Here is the source “of motives; the seat of passions; the center of the thought processes; the spring of conscience.”10 It’s like a “hidden control-center” in every person.11 Everything we think, desire, choose, and live out is generated from this one “controlling source” and is governed from this one point.12” One of the Most Misused Words Today | Crossway
It is both simple and complex.
“The Scripture presents the heart not just as a unity but also as a trinity of spiritual functions: the mind, the desires, and the will.15 To put it another way, the heart includes what we know (our knowledge, thoughts, intentions, ideas, meditation, memory, imagination), what we love (what we want, seek, feel, yearn for), and what we choose (whether we will resist or submit, whether we will be weak or strong, whether we will say yes or no).16 No other word “combines the complex interplay of intellect, sensibility, and will.”17” One of the Most Misused Words Today | Crossway
Psalm 111 – Whole Heart
To give God our whole heart is to give God our whole being, everything. Our heart, mind, soul, will. It is turning our whole life over to God. Where the foundation of wisdom is fear and reverence before our awesome God, this leads to worship with not just our words or actions or feelings, but with our whole being, giving our life to our God. Why? Because our God deserves nothing less.
Psalm 111 – whole heart, tells us to praise God with our whole heart.
Are you ready to give everything to God? If not, what’s holding you back?
(For another take on this psalm, see Psalm 111: Where Do We Find Wisdom? – Patricia M Robertson)
This post is part of a series of blog posts on the Psalms. Sign up to follow this blog and receive a free copy of Still Dancing, the second book in my Dancing through Life Series. click here to sign up
(Please note – in order to help ensure you receive email with link to new book, please add my email, patricia@patriciamrobertson.com to your contact list. Some servers are quick to send newsletters to spam or other boxes.)
Leave a Reply