John Calvin Commentary Psalms 92:5

"How great are thy works, O Jehovah! Thy thoughts are very deep." — Psalms 92:5 (ASV)

O Jehovah! how highly exalted are your works! The Psalmist, having spoken of the works of God in general, proceeds to speak more particularly of his justice in the government of the world. Though God may postpone the punishment of the wicked, he shows, in due time, that in permitting their sins, he did not overlook or fail to perceive them; and though he tests his own children with the cross, he proves ultimately that he was not indifferent to their welfare.

His reason for addressing this particular point seems to be that much obscurity is cast upon the plan of Divine Providence by the inequality and disorder that prevail in human affairs. We see the wicked triumphing and applauding their own good fortune, as if there were no judge above, and taking opportunity from the Divine forbearance to run into additional excesses, under the impression that they have escaped his hand.

The temptation is aggravated by that dullness and blindness of heart which lead us to imagine that God exercises no oversight over the world and sits idle in heaven. It is also known how quickly we are ready to sink under the troubles of the flesh. The Psalmist, therefore, intentionally selects this as an instance in which he may show the watchful care God exercises over the human family.

He begins by using the language of exclamation, for such is the dreadful malady and disorder by which our understandings are confused, that we cannot comprehend the method of God’s works, even when it is most apparent. We are to notice that the inspired writer is not speaking here of the work of God in the creation of the heavens and earth, nor of his providential government of the world in general, but only of the judgments which he executes among men.

He calls the works of God great and his thoughts deep, because he governs the world in a way completely different from what we are able to comprehend. If things were under our own management, we would entirely invert the order that God observes; and, this not being the case, we perversely remonstrate with God for not hastening more quickly to help the righteous and punish the wicked.

It strikes us as in the highest degree inconsistent with the perfections of God, that he should bear with the wicked when they rage against him, when they rush without restraint into the most daring acts of iniquity, and when they persecute at will the good and the innocent—it seems, I say, in our eyes to be intolerable, that God should subject his own people to the injustice and violence of the wicked, while he puts no check upon abounding falsehood, deceit, plunder, bloodshed, and every species of enormity. Why does he allow his truth to be obscured and his holy name to be trampled underfoot?

This is that greatness of the Divine operation, that depth of the Divine counsel, for which the Psalmist breaks forth in admiration. It is no doubt true that there is an incomprehensible depth of power and wisdom that God has displayed in the fabric of the universe; but what the Psalmist especially has in view is to provide a check to that disposition which leads us to murmur against God when he does not follow our plan in his providential ways. When anything in these ways may not agree with our common understanding, we ought to contemplate it with reverence and remember that God, for the better trial of our obedience, has lifted his deep and mysterious judgments far above our conceptions.