I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will recount all Your wonders. – Psalm 9:1
Psalm 9:1 begins with a simple response to an overwhelming reality: God has done more than we could ever comprehend. David does not merely acknowledge that God has done wonderful things. He determines to remember them, speak about them, and give thanks with all his heart.
What does it mean to recount God’s wonders?
There is something important about the way David talks about God’s works. He is not simply amazed by them. He intends to recount them. That means he will bring them to mind and tell of them again.
We can easily overlook how much of our spiritual life depends on remembering. God’s faithfulness is often clearer when we stop and look back. A prayer that was answered. A door that opened at the right time. Strength that came when we did not think we had any left. A truth from Scripture that became especially meaningful in a difficult season. These things may not look spectacular to someone else, but they become reminders of the God who was there all along.
David wants those reminders to have a voice. He does not want God’s works to become yesterday’s memories and then disappear beneath the demands of today.
Why do God’s works leave us with so much to consider?
Creation itself gives us plenty of reasons to pause. We can study the heavens, examine the smallest details of the natural world, and continue discovering things we do not fully understand. Human beings can build extraordinary things, but we are still working with materials and abilities we did not create.
God did not inherit a universe and improve it. He is the Creator. The heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything living within them depend upon Him. Even our ability to think, create, explore, and accomplish anything at all ultimately rests upon gifts we received rather than produced for ourselves.
That realization has a way of putting our accomplishments in their proper place. It does not make human work meaningless. It makes pride look much less reasonable.
What should God’s greatness produce in us?
For David, God’s greatness leads to thanksgiving. That is worth noticing. The proper response to God’s greatness is not simply intellectual agreement. It is worship.
There is also a quiet humility in David’s words. When we begin to see the greatness of the One we worship, we become less impressed with ourselves. We are like sheep who need a shepherd, not independent creatures who have everything figured out. We depend upon God far more deeply than we usually realize.
And yet Psalm 9 does not leave us trembling before an incomprehensible power. The God whose works are beyond our understanding is also the God who acts for His people. His greatness is not detached from His goodness. That becomes especially clear in Jesus. The greatest wonder of God is not simply that He could create galaxies or sustain the smallest details of creation. It is that He came near to save people who had turned away from Him. In Christ, God’s power and God’s mercy meet. The One who made all things humbled Himself and gave Himself for us.
Perhaps that is why David’s words are such a helpful pattern for us. Look back. Remember what God has done. Tell it again. Let His works correct our pride and His faithfulness strengthen our trust. We will never run out of reasons to give thanks when we take time to recount His wonders.