4
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
My Thoughts
This verse details the importance of remembering the Lord’s wonderful works, showcasing His grace and compassion, and reminds me that we are to do what Moses told Israel: to remember the Lord’s signs and wonders when they came into the land which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:
“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’ Deuteronomy 6:20-25 NKJV
Bill
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Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
They are admirable and memorable, fit to be registered and kept on record. Much that we do is so trifling that it is not fit to be spoken of or told again; the greatest kindness is to forget it. But notice is to be taken of God’s works, and an account to be kept of them (v. 4). He has made his wonderful works to be remembered; he has done that which is worthy to be remembered, which cannot but be remembered, and he has instituted ways and means for the keeping of some of them in remembrance, as the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the passover. He has made himself a memorial by his wonderful works (so some read it); see Isa. 63:10. By that which God did with his glorious arm he made himself an everlasting name.
They are very kind. In them, the Lord shows that he is gracious and full of compassion. As of the works of creation, so of the works of providence, we must say, They are not only all very great, but all very good. Dr. Hammond takes this to be the name which God has made to himself by his wonderful works, the same with that which he proclaimed to Moses, The Lord God is gracious and merciful,
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Charles Spurgeon
“He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. He meant them to remain in the recollection of his people, and they do so: partly because they are in themselves memorable, and because also he has taken care to record them by the pen of inspiration, and has written them upon the hearts of his people by his Holy Spirit. By the ordinances of the Mosaic law, the coming out of Egypt, the sojourn in the wilderness, and other memorabilia of Israel’s history were constantly brought before the minds of the people, and their children were by such means instructed in the wonders which God had wrought in old time. Deeds such as God has wrought are not to be admired for an hour and then forgotten; they are meant to be perpetual signs and instructive tokens to all coming generations; and especially are they designed to confirm the faith of his people in the divine love and to make them know that
“The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.” They need not fear to trust his grace for the future, for they remember it in the past. Grace is as conspicuous as righteousness in the great work of God, yea, a fulness of tender love is seen in all that he has done. He treats his people with great consideration for their weakness and infirmity, having the same pity for them as a father hath towards his children. Should we not praise him for this? A silver thread of lovingkindness runs through the entire fabric of God’s work of salvation and providence, and never once is it left out in the whole piece. Let the memories of his saints bear witness to this fact with grateful joy.
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Enduring Word
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered: God designed His saving acts to be remembered among His people. It is a dishonor to him and a failure of man that the miracles of His redemption are forgotten or, worse yet, denied.
i. Kidner points out that still a third Hebrew word is translated wonderful works: “The expression wonderful works opens up another line of thought. It is a single word, ‘wonders’, and refers most often to the great saving acts of God.” (Guzik)
ii. To be remembered: “The word zeker…is a noun in Hebrew. It connotes the act of ‘proclamation.’ Israel not only remembered but proclaimed what God had done” (VanGemeren)
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion: First in the mind of the psalmist was God’s great work of grace and love. He is full of these qualities in His being and expresses them in his great works. (Guzik)
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Barnes
He hath made his wonderful works – In heaven and in earth.
To be remembered – literally, “Memory hath he made for his wonderful works.” “They” are so made that man may remember them; the memory of man, also, is so made, that it may retain them. The highest and most appropriate exercise of memory is to retain the lessons which the works of God inculcate, to treasure up for gratitude and for use what he teaches his intelligent creation through those works. Memory can never be better employed than in treasuring up the truths which the Creator teaches in his providential dealings with us, and in his word. How much better would it be for man if he labored more to “remember” these things; if he sought to forget many of those things which he is so careful now to retain in his recollection.
The Lord is gracious … – See the notes at Psalms 86:5. This is stated here as the result of the careful study of the doings of God, as the conclusion to which all will come who carefully study his works. “Illustrations” of what God has done that deserves to be remembered occupy the remainder of the psalm, except the last verse.
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John Gill
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered,…. All his works are marvelous ones; his works of creation, that they should rise out of nothing at a word of command; his works of providence, which have such a depth of wisdom and knowledge in them, are unsearchable and past finding out; and his works of redemption and grace; and these are so wrought by him, and such methods taken to continue the memory of them, that they cannot well be forgotten: all things in nature are as they were from the beginning; the sun, moon, and stars, keep their course and station; cold and heat, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, are as they always were; remarkable providences have been carefully recorded, and memorials of them handed down to posterity. The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was annually remembered in the passover; the feeding of them with manna in the wilderness was caused to be remembered by a pot of manna preserved in the tabernacle and temple; and the great work of our redemption by Christ is brought to remembrance in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper, appointed for that purpose.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; so he was in eternity, and is in time; this appears in all his works, and especially in our salvation by Jesus Christ; see Psalm 86:5.
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Matthew Poole
4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
To be remembered; either,
1. By those memorials which he hath left of them in his word; or rather,
2. By their own wonderful nature, and the lasting effects and benefits flowing from them, which are such as cannot easily be forgotten. Is gracious and full of compassion towards his people, as appears from his works and carriage towards us, in sparing, and pardoning, and restoring, and preserving us when we have deserved to be utterly destroyed.
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 175.
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Cross-References
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Exodus 34:6.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, James 5:10–11.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Exodus 12:14.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:6 NKJV
“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’
Deuteronomy 6:20-25 NKJV
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KJV W/Strongs Bible
111:4 He hath made 6213 8804 his wonderful works 6381 8737 to be remembered 2143: the LORD 3068 [is] gracious 2587 and full of compassion 7349.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 111:4
4 He hathe made his wonderful works to be had in remembrance: the Lord is merciful and ful of compassion.
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Jude:
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
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