Ps. 111.1 (Becoming the Forever)

I will give Yhwh / wholehearted thanks

                in the assembled congregation of the upright

Everything in this psalm is visible. It is public. It is on display. Yhwh’s acts are Majesty and Splendor—they are the beautiful displays of Yhwh’s overwhelming power and authority. This is the divine heaven reality becoming manifest in and through the cosmos. It is the cosmos on fire with Yhwh’s activity.

These acts—these conflagrations—are performed once, but for those who recognize their grandeur, they are not extinguished; they are forever flames that  burn in the hearts of Yhwh’s faithful. They “worth studying”. They are ever-flames. They are not exhausted in their time.  Yhwh’s praise for his acts “will continue forever”. They stand as the fountain of the forever-covenant between Yhwh and his people.

“Forever” is mentioned several times in this psalm—almost always in connection with the covenant. Yhwh’s loyalty is “forever”. He is mindful of his covenant “forever”. His people live within that covenant “forever and ever”. He has commanded it be kept “forever”. His praise “will continue forever”.

So what can we say about this opening verse? The psalmist puts himself in the stream of Yhwh’s Forever. He enters into the flame that is ignited by Yhwh’s act, through studying them, and then performs the act of praise that will, itself, partake of Yhwh’s own undying Forever. This is not simply the psalmist declaring something. Heaven and earth meet here—the Forever is enacted here, through the psalmist’s studying and praise of Yhwh’s acts. Yhwh “continues forever” and, likewise, so will his covenant-creation continue forever in their praise of him. We see, here, then, a type of resurrected power, a type of heaven power, a covenant power, that lifts Yhwh’s people up into his own Forever sphere and makes them into one of his Majestic and Splendorous Acts.