Psalm 115 · a question people ask
"He does whatever he pleases" (115:3). Does the psalm mean that everything that happens is what God wants?
The psalm says this in answer to the nations' question (115:2), and it sets it against idols that don't speak, see, hear, smell, feel or walk (115:5-7). Its contrast is between a God who does what he pleases and idols of which it lists only what they don't do: "They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk" (115:7). Psalm 135 says it too, and says where: "Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps" (Psalm 135:6) (tap pleases). Neither psalm goes on to say how what the LORD pleases to do relates to everything else that happens, or to what people choose, and these notes don't say it for them.
The verses
“Why should the nations say, “Where is their God, now?” But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.”
“They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat.”
“Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”