He Causes

I've been reading the Book of Psalms in my devotional time and the other day I came across Psalm 111:4 which says, "He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate." The word "caused" caught my attention as I've been reminded these months to reflect much on God's faithfulness to me in the past, just as the Israelites often recounted how God was merciful to them. Yet I realized even my act of remembering, reflecting, and recounting was God's merciful enablement. Out of His grace and compassion, He has caused his wonders in my life to be remembered. Left to myself, I don't even have the power or means to bring to mind anything remotely godly. I am grateful that during trying times, even my remembering of the Lord and His faithfulness to me is purely His sovereign act. As Piper reminds me through Philippians 3:12, which says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me," "all [my] efforts to grasp the fullness of joy in Christ are secured by Christ's grasp of [me]." I am secured because He has caused it in the first place. Blessed be the name of the Lord!