Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
– Psalm 111:2
What a great verse, and a great picture. The works of the Lord are so great that those who study them find delight in them. Just think of all kinds of different ways we can study the works of the Lord. Just think about his works in history when we open the Bible and read stories about his works from creation.
Psalm 111:2 calls us to consider the wondrous works of God.
He spoke and the world came into being. Just consider that. Study that reality. Look at creation. Study creation and see his work on display in ways that lead you to delight in the one who did all of this.
Think about science and scientists who study and observe creation, for us to do this with the Spirit of God in us, that leads us to see this doesn’t just happen naturally. This is all supernatural, that this is everything in all creation supernaturally sustained. So study trees and plants and animals and biology. Study the makeup, and anatomy of people in ways that lead to delight in the works of God.
When you read about, study how God forms a child in a womb, it’s breathtaking. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s amazing what Psalm 139 says God is doing in knitting together a child and the more you study it, the more you give glory to God. I think about challenges I had recently with my back and just some back pain and the more I studied, okay, how the back works and what happens when a disc herniates or fragments, but to see the wonder of how God has designed the human body.
It’s stunning and we could just go on and on and on, not just in creation and the makeup of man and woman in the image of God, to look at history and works that God did, bringing his people from slavery into freedom, bringing his people through the Red Sea with a wall of water on each side, God delivering Daniel from a den of lions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from a fiery furnace, to study the Gospels and the works of God in the flesh, Jesus on the earth, healing and loving and caring.
Psalm 111:2 teaches us to delight in the wondrous works of God.
All over the Bible we see the works of God and then to look at our own lives, just to periodically look back at his work in our lives, that we can see even clearer in hindsight, to study his works in ways that lead to delight in God and so we pray, oh God, great are your works, Psalm 111:2, studied by all who delight in them. So we pray that you would help us to be students of your works, students of your Word and the works we see in them.
God, I pray my own life and the lives of every single person listening to this right now, that as we open your Word on a daily basis and study your works and your Word, that we would find delight in them, you would increase our delights, as we look around us in the world today, that you would help us to study your works in the world in ways that lead to delight in you, as we think about our lives in the past and we look back at all you’ve done, at how you have worked in our lives, that you would use our study to lead us to delight in you.
This verse encourages us to trust God’s works in our life.
And God, as we look at what you’re doing in our lives right now, even the things we don’t understand, God, help us to trust that you’re working right now for our good and for your glory.
So God, help us to study your work in our lives right now. To look at it, to reflect on it today and each day in ways that lead to delight in you. And God, we pray that you would help us to spread the good news of your great work. God, help us to encourage others today with the greatness of your works, in the past, ultimately in Jesus. To give testimony to the greatness of your work and our lives by your grace. And God, to lead others to see and study your great work for their salvation. Lord, we pray for that and family members and friends and classmates and co-workers.
Prayer for the Hijazi Arab People
And God, we pray for this, for people around the world. Specifically today for the Hijazi Arab people of Saudi Arabia. For over 11 million of them who don’t know the truth about your great work in Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection for them.
God, we pray that you would help us to proclaim your work to all the nations. Including Hijazi Arabs in Saudi. For your glory among them, that they might see your works, study your works, and delight in you. God, we want all the nations to know how great your works are. Please use our lives toward that end. We pray today in Jesus’ name. According to Psalm 111:2, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
