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The works of the Lord are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
My Thoughts
Has something in nature ever caught your eye? Looking out at the magnificence of the Grand Canyon or gazing at endless stretches of the ocean, watching a hummingbird as he goes from flower to flower, or gazing at a mountain range as the sun sets upon it?
This verse emphasizes the greatness of the Lord’s works, which are profound in their design, quantity, and quality. Charles Spurgeon notes that those who appreciate and love God find joy in studying these divine creations, revealing deeper knowledge and wisdom. The commentaries below highlight that the investigation of God’s works, particularly through nature and Scripture, gives a deeper meaning to one’s understanding of the Lord’s power and wisdom. The works invite admiration and scholarly pursuit, magnifying both God’s majesty and the intrinsic pleasure derived from meditating on His creation…….Bill
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“The works of the LORD are great.” In design, in size, in number, in excellence, all the works of the Lord are great. Even the little things of God are great. In some point of view or other each one of the productions of his power, or the deeds of his wisdom, will appear to be great to the wise in heart.
“Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” Those who love their Maker delight in his handiwork; they perceive that there is more in them than appears upon the surface, and therefore, they bend their minds to study and understand them. The devout naturalist ransacks nature, the earnest student of history pries into hidden facts and dark stories, and the man of God digs into the mines of Scripture and hoards up each grain of its golden truth. God’s works are worthy of our researches, they yield us instruction and pleasure wonderfully blended, and they grow upon, appearing to be far greater after investigation than before. Men’s works are noble from a distance; God’s works are great when sought out. Delitzsch reads the passage, “Worthy of being sought after in all their purposes,” and this also is a grand truth, for the end and design which God hath in all that he makes or does is equally admirable with the work itself. The hidden wisdom of God is the most marvelous part of his works, and hence, those who do not look below the surface miss the best part of what he would teach us. Because the works are great, they cannot be seen all at once but must be looked into with care, and this seeking out is of essential service to us by educating our faculties and strengthening our spiritual eye gradually to bear the light of the divine glory. It is well for us that all things cannot be seen at a glance, for the search into their mysteries is as useful to us as the knowledge which we thereby attain. The history of the Lord’s dealings with his people is especially a fit subject for the meditation of reverent minds who find therein a sweet solace and a never-failing source of delight.
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Enduring Word
The works of the LORD are great: God should be praised for who He is, but what He has done is also worthy of praise. Here, the emphasis is on His work in creation, and these works are great in their number and in their significance. (Guzik)
i. Kidner comments on the specific Hebrew word translated works in Psalm 111:2: “In the Psalms, the Lord’s works (maasim) are sometimes his deeds, as in verse 6, but more often the things he has made (e.g., the heavens, Psalm 8:3; 19:1; 102:25; and the populous earth, 104:24).”
ii. “No small things are done by so great a hand.” (Trapp)
Studied by all who have pleasure in them: The greatness of God’s work invites close study by the scientist, the historian, and the theologian. Their findings will lead them to do their work with all their strength and take pleasure in how God’s wisdom and power are revealed through His honorable and glorious works. (Guzik)
i. Studied: “The more one gazes, the more one sees.” (Maclaren)
ii. “There is a science laboratory in Cambridge, England, called the Cavendish Laboratory, named after the eighteenth-century English chemist and physicist Sir Henry Cavendish (1731-1810). It is distinguished by having the words of Psalm 111:2 inscribed over the entrance to its building as a charter for every believing scientist: Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” (Boice)
iii. “Kepler, when he first turned his telescope to clustered worlds, exclaimed, ‘I am thinking over again the first thoughts of God.’ Would that the ecstasy of the ardent student of nature might fill our hearts as we direct our thought to the great works of our Saviour-God.” (Meyer)
iv. “Happy are they who, with humility and diligence, with faith and devotion, give themselves to the contemplation of these works, and take ‘pleasure’ and delight therein. To them shall the gate of true science open; they shall understand the mysteries of creation, providence, and redemption; and they who thus ‘seek,’ shall find the treasures of eternal wisdom.” (Horne)
v. “But while this verse is well taken as God’s charter for the scientist and artist, verse 10 must be its partner, lest ‘professing to be wise’ we become fools, like the men of Romans 1:18-23.” (Kidner)
vi. This pleasure can be ours forever. “Probably this will be our employment in eternity; ever passing into deeper and fuller appreciation of the works of God, and breaking into more rapturous songs.” (Meyer)
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Barnes
The works of the Lord are great – They are great in number, great in magnitude, great in wisdom, great in goodness. This language was appropriate in the time of the psalmist, when people looked upon the heavens with the naked eye alone and when they had very imperfect views of the real magnitude of the universe as it is now disclosed by the telescope. It is entirely appropriate now and conveys a more solemn and sublime impression than it would in the time of the psalmist. It will still be appropriate under the larger views which may yet be obtained of the universe by more perfect instruments, by more accurate observation, and by more profound study. And it will be appropriate when people shall survey the greatness of the universe from the heights of heaven.
Sought out of all them – Studied by all such.
That have pleasure therein – More literally, “Sought to all their wishes.” Perhaps the meaning is that they would find all their desires gratified in those works; they would find in them all that they would wish to find respecting the power, wisdom, goodness, and majesty of God. Still, it implies that they have a desire thus to study his works or that they do find a pleasure in examining the proofs of the being and attributes of God in his works. A man who loves God will have real pleasure in studying his works as well as his word, and it is as proper to find pleasure in the one as in the other – as proper to wish to find the knowledge which the one imparts as that which the other bestows. One great error among the friends of God is the neglect to study his works. In doing this, people need not neglect or undervalue the Bible and the knowledge which it gives, for such studies would be among the best means of illustrating the Bible.
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John Gill
The works of the Lord are great,…. His works of creation are great, being made out of nothing, are the effects of great power, and the produce of great wisdom, and which greatly display the glory of their Maker; the works of providence are great, which are daily wrought, especially such as concern the church and people of God, for whom he does great things, whereof they have reason to be glad and praise his name; the miracles of Christ he wrought here on earth were surprisingly great, some of them such as had not keen known from the creation of the world; and yet greater things were shown him, and done by him, particularly the work of redemption, a work which angels and men were unequal to, a work which none but the great God and our Saviour could effect, and is truly called the great salvation; the work of grace upon the heart is a great work, and requires the exceeding greatness of the divine power, and which is exerted in the beginning, carrying on, and finishing that work; and for all which the Lord is to be praised:
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Matthew Henry
He recommends to us the works of the Lord as the proper subject of our meditations when we are praising Him the dispensations of his providence towards the world, towards the church, and towards particular persons.
God’s works are very magnificent, great like himself; there is nothing in them that is mean or trifling: they are the products of infinite wisdom and power, and we must say this upon the first view of them, before we come to enquire more particularly into them, that the works of the Lord are great, v. 2. There is something in them surprising, and that strikes an awe upon us.
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Clarke
Of all them that have pleasure therein. — By all that delight in them: by every genuine philosopher; every lover of nature; he who traces out the great First Cause by means of his works. And the man that does so will be astonished at the perfections of the Creator, and admire all the operations of his hands.
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Cross References:
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; qjust and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Re 15:3.
O Lord, how great are thy works!
And thy thoughts are very deep.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 92:5.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all:
The earth is full of thy riches.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 104:24.
5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all thy kworks;
I muse on the work of thy hands.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 143:5.
9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable;
Marvellous things without number:
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Job 5:9.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvellous are thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 139:14.
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KJV W/Strongs Bible
111:2 The works 4639 of the LORD 3068 [are] great 1419, sought out 1875 8803 of all them that have pleasure 2656 therein.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 111:2
2 The works of the Lord are (b) great, and ought to be sought out of all them that love them.
(b) He shows that God’s works are a sufficient cause, wherefore we should praise him, but chiefly his benefits toward his Church.
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My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 NKJV
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