John Calvin Commentary Psalms 145:17

"Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, And gracious in all his works." — Psalms 145:17 (ASV)

Jehovah is righteous in all his ways. He is not now speaking of God’s goodness merely in providing all His creatures with their daily food, but encompasses other parts of His providence, such as correcting people for their sins, restraining the wicked, testing the patience of His people under the cross, and governing the world by judgments that are often inscrutable to us.

The basis on which praise is ascribed to God here may seem common, as it is on everyone’s lips; but wisdom is shown in nothing more than in holding fast to the truth that God is just in all His ways, so that we retain an unabated sense of it in our hearts amid all troubles and confusions.

Although everyone acknowledges God to be just, most people, as soon as they are overtaken by affliction, quarrel with His severity. Unless their wishes are immediately met, they become impatient, and nothing is more common than to hear His justice impeached. Since His justice is everywhere abused by the wicked accusations people cast upon it, here it is rightly vindicated from such ungrateful treatment and asserted to be constant and unfailing, however loudly the world may disparage it.

It is expressly added, in all his ways and works, for we fail to give God due honor unless we recognize a consistent nature of righteousness in the entire course of His operations. Nothing is more difficult in times of trouble—when God has apparently forsaken us or afflicts us without cause—than to restrain our corrupt feelings from breaking out against His judgments.

This is illustrated by the emperor Mauricius in a memorable historical account: seeing his sons murdered by the wicked and treacherous traitor Phocas, and as he himself was about to be led to his death, he cried out, “Thou art righteous, O God, and just are thy judgments!” Since this man of reputable character used such a shield against the cruel trials he faced, we must learn to restrain our spirits and always give God’s righteousness the honor it deserves. David, however, goes even further, suggesting that God, even when He seems most severe, is so far from being cruel that He tempers His heaviest judgments with equity and clemency.