#1 Holy Wit – Reflections
(WW – Wisdom and Worship – Psalm 111)
Scripture References: Psalm 111; Psalm 92:1–2; Psalm 145:1–2
There are people who wake up talking to God before their feet hit the floor.
I have known a few of them over the years. They tend not to advertise it. They are usually not the loudest Christians in the room. Often they are older believers, though not always. They possess a certain steadiness about them that is difficult to explain.
One of them was a man I knew years ago who ran a small engine repair shop. Not the sort of place anybody entered by accident. The building smelled permanently of oil, rubber belts, and old gasoline. Somewhere in the back there was always a radio quietly playing country music through static while he leaned over a mower engine looking like a man attempting surgery with socket wrenches.
Every morning when I came in, he was already there.
Coffee cup on the bench. Shop lights humming overhead. Roll-up door halfway open to the morning air.
And almost every morning, before conversation properly began, he would say something like:
“Beautiful morning the Lord gave us.”
Not dramatically. Not in a preacher voice. Just naturally.
Now at the time I was young enough to think wisdom mainly belonged to people who used words like “therefore” and “moreover” in arguments. I associated wisdom with impressive intelligence. The kind of person who reads thick books recreationally and owns pens that require bottled ink.
But that old mechanic quietly dismantled my definition.
Because over time I noticed something.
He praised God constantly.
Not performatively. Habitually.
When business was good: “The Lord has been kind.”
When business was slow: “Well, God has carried us before.”
When his knees hurt: “Getting old beats the alternative.”
When his brother died: “Hard road, but the Lord knows.”
It was not denial. He was fully aware life could be difficult. The man had buried people he loved. Fought through financial trouble. Worked long enough to know engines, governments, and human beings all tend to break down eventually.
But praise had become the settled rhythm of his thinking.
And Psalm 111 suddenly makes people like that make sense.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
Not merely information. Reverence.
Modern people tend to imagine wisdom as accumulation. More data. More expertise. More analysis. And certainly knowledge matters. Scripture never praises ignorance.
But Psalm 111 says wisdom begins somewhere far more foundational: rightly seeing God.
The wise person understands he is not self-sustaining. He understands the Lord is glorious, righteous, faithful, compassionate, covenant-keeping, and worthy of continual praise. He understands creation itself is not random machinery grinding forward without meaning.
And from that reverence flows stability.
What struck me about that old mechanic was not merely that he praised God during church services. Many people can manage that for an hour on Sunday. What marked him was that praise had migrated into ordinary life.
Into flat tires. Into invoices. Into arthritis. Into weather reports. Into grief.
Psalm 111 begins and ends with praise because praise is not ornamental to wisdom — it is part of wisdom itself.
A complaining heart eventually becomes cynical. A perpetually anxious heart eventually becomes spiritually exhausted. A distracted heart eventually forgets God altogether.
But a praising heart remembers.
That is one of the reasons the Psalms repeat themselves so often. Human beings leak remembrance. We forget answered prayers with astonishing speed. We panic about tomorrow while standing knee-deep in yesterday’s provision.
So the psalmist continually drags the soul back into view of God’s faithfulness.
“His praise endures forever.”
That line lands differently the older one gets.
Because eventually you realize praise is not merely an emotional response to pleasant circumstances. It becomes a deliberate act of spiritual sanity in a forgetful world.
And perhaps that is why some of the wisest believers often sound the simplest.
Not shallow. Simple.
They have spent enough years with God that reverence has become instinctive.
The Lord gives rain? Praise Him.
The Lord carries us through sorrow? Praise Him.
The Lord forgives sinners? Praise Him.
The Lord remains faithful while the world loses its collective mind every eleven minutes? Praise Him.
Wise people eventually stop acting surprised that God is still worthy of worship.
They simply continue praising Him.
#HolyWitBibleStudy #GordonMcGinnis #WWWisdomAndWorship #Psalm111
(WW – Wisdom and Worship – Psalm 111)
Scripture References: Psalm 111; Psalm 92:1–2; Psalm 145:1–2
There are people who wake up talking to God before their feet hit the floor.
I have known a few of them over the years. They tend not to advertise it. They are usually not the loudest Christians in the room. Often they are older believers, though not always. They possess a certain steadiness about them that is difficult to explain.
One of them was a man I knew years ago who ran a small engine repair shop. Not the sort of place anybody entered by accident. The building smelled permanently of oil, rubber belts, and old gasoline. Somewhere in the back there was always a radio quietly playing country music through static while he leaned over a mower engine looking like a man attempting surgery with socket wrenches.
Every morning when I came in, he was already there.
Coffee cup on the bench. Shop lights humming overhead. Roll-up door halfway open to the morning air.
And almost every morning, before conversation properly began, he would say something like:
“Beautiful morning the Lord gave us.”
Not dramatically. Not in a preacher voice. Just naturally.
Now at the time I was young enough to think wisdom mainly belonged to people who used words like “therefore” and “moreover” in arguments. I associated wisdom with impressive intelligence. The kind of person who reads thick books recreationally and owns pens that require bottled ink.
But that old mechanic quietly dismantled my definition.
Because over time I noticed something.
He praised God constantly.
Not performatively. Habitually.
When business was good: “The Lord has been kind.”
When business was slow: “Well, God has carried us before.”
When his knees hurt: “Getting old beats the alternative.”
When his brother died: “Hard road, but the Lord knows.”
It was not denial. He was fully aware life could be difficult. The man had buried people he loved. Fought through financial trouble. Worked long enough to know engines, governments, and human beings all tend to break down eventually.
But praise had become the settled rhythm of his thinking.
And Psalm 111 suddenly makes people like that make sense.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
Not merely information. Reverence.
Modern people tend to imagine wisdom as accumulation. More data. More expertise. More analysis. And certainly knowledge matters. Scripture never praises ignorance.
But Psalm 111 says wisdom begins somewhere far more foundational: rightly seeing God.
The wise person understands he is not self-sustaining. He understands the Lord is glorious, righteous, faithful, compassionate, covenant-keeping, and worthy of continual praise. He understands creation itself is not random machinery grinding forward without meaning.
And from that reverence flows stability.
What struck me about that old mechanic was not merely that he praised God during church services. Many people can manage that for an hour on Sunday. What marked him was that praise had migrated into ordinary life.
Into flat tires. Into invoices. Into arthritis. Into weather reports. Into grief.
Psalm 111 begins and ends with praise because praise is not ornamental to wisdom — it is part of wisdom itself.
A complaining heart eventually becomes cynical. A perpetually anxious heart eventually becomes spiritually exhausted. A distracted heart eventually forgets God altogether.
But a praising heart remembers.
That is one of the reasons the Psalms repeat themselves so often. Human beings leak remembrance. We forget answered prayers with astonishing speed. We panic about tomorrow while standing knee-deep in yesterday’s provision.
So the psalmist continually drags the soul back into view of God’s faithfulness.
“His praise endures forever.”
That line lands differently the older one gets.
Because eventually you realize praise is not merely an emotional response to pleasant circumstances. It becomes a deliberate act of spiritual sanity in a forgetful world.
And perhaps that is why some of the wisest believers often sound the simplest.
Not shallow. Simple.
They have spent enough years with God that reverence has become instinctive.
The Lord gives rain? Praise Him.
The Lord carries us through sorrow? Praise Him.
The Lord forgives sinners? Praise Him.
The Lord remains faithful while the world loses its collective mind every eleven minutes? Praise Him.
Wise people eventually stop acting surprised that God is still worthy of worship.
They simply continue praising Him.
#HolyWitBibleStudy #GordonMcGinnis #WWWisdomAndWorship #Psalm111
#1 Holy Wit – Reflections
(WW – Wisdom and Worship – Psalm 111)
Scripture References: Psalm 111; Psalm 92:1–2; Psalm 145:1–2
There are people who wake up talking to God before their feet hit the floor.
I have known a few of them over the years. They tend not to advertise it. They are usually not the loudest Christians in the room. Often they are older believers, though not always. They possess a certain steadiness about them that is difficult to explain.
One of them was a man I knew years ago who ran a small engine repair shop. Not the sort of place anybody entered by accident. The building smelled permanently of oil, rubber belts, and old gasoline. Somewhere in the back there was always a radio quietly playing country music through static while he leaned over a mower engine looking like a man attempting surgery with socket wrenches.
Every morning when I came in, he was already there.
Coffee cup on the bench. Shop lights humming overhead. Roll-up door halfway open to the morning air.
And almost every morning, before conversation properly began, he would say something like:
“Beautiful morning the Lord gave us.”
Not dramatically. Not in a preacher voice. Just naturally.
Now at the time I was young enough to think wisdom mainly belonged to people who used words like “therefore” and “moreover” in arguments. I associated wisdom with impressive intelligence. The kind of person who reads thick books recreationally and owns pens that require bottled ink.
But that old mechanic quietly dismantled my definition.
Because over time I noticed something.
He praised God constantly.
Not performatively. Habitually.
When business was good: “The Lord has been kind.”
When business was slow: “Well, God has carried us before.”
When his knees hurt: “Getting old beats the alternative.”
When his brother died: “Hard road, but the Lord knows.”
It was not denial. He was fully aware life could be difficult. The man had buried people he loved. Fought through financial trouble. Worked long enough to know engines, governments, and human beings all tend to break down eventually.
But praise had become the settled rhythm of his thinking.
And Psalm 111 suddenly makes people like that make sense.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
Not merely information. Reverence.
Modern people tend to imagine wisdom as accumulation. More data. More expertise. More analysis. And certainly knowledge matters. Scripture never praises ignorance.
But Psalm 111 says wisdom begins somewhere far more foundational: rightly seeing God.
The wise person understands he is not self-sustaining. He understands the Lord is glorious, righteous, faithful, compassionate, covenant-keeping, and worthy of continual praise. He understands creation itself is not random machinery grinding forward without meaning.
And from that reverence flows stability.
What struck me about that old mechanic was not merely that he praised God during church services. Many people can manage that for an hour on Sunday. What marked him was that praise had migrated into ordinary life.
Into flat tires. Into invoices. Into arthritis. Into weather reports. Into grief.
Psalm 111 begins and ends with praise because praise is not ornamental to wisdom — it is part of wisdom itself.
A complaining heart eventually becomes cynical. A perpetually anxious heart eventually becomes spiritually exhausted. A distracted heart eventually forgets God altogether.
But a praising heart remembers.
That is one of the reasons the Psalms repeat themselves so often. Human beings leak remembrance. We forget answered prayers with astonishing speed. We panic about tomorrow while standing knee-deep in yesterday’s provision.
So the psalmist continually drags the soul back into view of God’s faithfulness.
“His praise endures forever.”
That line lands differently the older one gets.
Because eventually you realize praise is not merely an emotional response to pleasant circumstances. It becomes a deliberate act of spiritual sanity in a forgetful world.
And perhaps that is why some of the wisest believers often sound the simplest.
Not shallow. Simple.
They have spent enough years with God that reverence has become instinctive.
The Lord gives rain? Praise Him.
The Lord carries us through sorrow? Praise Him.
The Lord forgives sinners? Praise Him.
The Lord remains faithful while the world loses its collective mind every eleven minutes? Praise Him.
Wise people eventually stop acting surprised that God is still worthy of worship.
They simply continue praising Him.
#HolyWitBibleStudy #GordonMcGinnis #WWWisdomAndWorship #Psalm111
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