Psalm 111 - Part 2

V1 - I WILL PRAISE THE LORD WITH MY WHOLE HEART, IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE UPRIGHT AND IN THE CONGREGATION.

• The psalmist now makes it personal, purposeful, willful, voluntary, without compulsion for bribery; but compelled by appreciation and a sense of purpose: I will praise the Lord.


• To what degree? “WITH MY WHOLE HEART” – the entirety of my being ; my intellect, emotions, personality, desires – my whole. The essence and totality of who I am is to be invoked in worship. This will force me to be very vulnerable since all of who I am is involved. Therefore, it might seem reasonable to render such activity to one-on-one times with God and myself alone. But the psalmist declares he will bear his soul to the Lord in praise, not privately, but in the fellowship of the brethren and even in the midst of the great congregation. Surely assembly could mean a small group of believers and congregation, a large group of believers. Yet they could also reference the body of Christ and the whole world, respectively.


• Regardless of the arena, He is praiseworthy and the psalmist is purposed to ascribe greatness to Him regardless of what others think or prefer


• It should be noted that there is the absence of an analogy to one’s private worship. There is a place for intimate worship and communion, however, the invocation in scripture stands: “I WILL PRAISE THE LORD WITH MY WHOLE HEART, IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE UPRIGHT AND IN THE CONGREGATION.” Corporate worship is how we see worship modeled throughout scripture and it is in this endeavor we will spend eternity. So we better rehearse!