Psalm 111. A psalm praising God and all of his works. He is ever mindful of his covenant. He provides food for those who fear him. His works are all faithful and just. All of his precepts are trustworthy and are established forever, to be performed with faithfulness and righteousness. He has sent redemption to his people. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and leads to understanding.

When we truly praise the Lord, as David is here, it is because we have been given some bit of understanding of his absolutely awesome power and might; that is, it is because we have come to "fear" him. David says fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that is correct, but it is not the fear in the sense of terror or fright. It is more like a fearful awe - a realization of the primacy and all encompassing nature of him and his power and how infinitesimally small and inconsequential we are in comparison, yet, he loves us, individually, so much! How can that be?! That realization is all inspiring and leads to us wanting to follow his precepts with faithfulness and righteousness - because we realize that only he knows what is best for us, because he is our creator, and the power of the universe, so only his rules are worth following.

I am very interested in quantum physics - I have been reading and learning about it for some time and it is utterly fascinating and a real insight, for me at least, into the way that God minds his universe. The seeming randomness of quantum physics is really not random at all when I think of it as God being the observer of the universe - as the "Schrodinger" to the "cat" of the universe. Because of my interest in this, I speak of it a lot to my family. The other day, my daughter told me that this freaks her out a bit sometimes - when she thinks of the vastness of the universe and when I talk about how the laws of physics and quantum physics organize and regulate it, it just seems a little too much for her. That, I think, is the beginning of "fear of the Lord."

This psalm calls to my mind the facet that when we come to realize that these scientific laws are actually God's laws for his creation and they govern everything, we come to a certain understanding of the power of God. He is it - the only power - the ultimate - he is everything! Yet, I am here, with my own mind, my own soul, my own free will, because he loves me and wanted me to be! When I realized that this all-powerful being loved and wanted each of us enough to create the universe, and then come and die for us because we went wrong, that is the beginning of wisdom. I then see that his precepts for our behavior, just like the laws of physics, are what will keep me and humanity working properly and in perfect harmony with all of his creation.

"His precepts are trustworthy, they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness."