Psalm 92:1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:
Well, it’s Tuesday now, and hopefully we’ve exorcised all the negative stuff from our Father’s Day celebrations and are now in full form to do Jesus’ work. (smile) That means we are simply filled with explosive scriptural acclamations, like: ‘This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Something good is going to happen to me today, and something good is also going to happen through me today! Wow! And how can it not be eh, when God is for us, which means that no one can be against us. Consequently, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! That’s for certain sure!
Yeh friends, every morning we need to stir ourselves up with some positive acclamations that lift our spirits and reassure us of God’s LOVE and care, so that we can go out into the evil world with enthusiasm and confidence and do a marvellous job on Christ’s behalf, be a worthwhile ambassador, a flavourful pound of salt of the earth and bright light of the world like He desires His followers to be. Thus, it’s ever so refreshing to read the opening verses of Psalm 92, subtitled Praises for the Lord’s goodness.
The psalmist right away declares: ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To show forth (declare) thy LOVING-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery (lute or lyre); upon the harp with a solemn (harmonious, melodic) sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.’ (Ps. 92:1-4)
And isn’t that the gospel truth my faithful brethren? We will triumph when we are obedient to God’s word and works, while offering up sincere praises to Him both morning and evening! And it’s obvious that that’s where so many of us fall down; besides not being sufficiently obedient to His dictates, we don’t praise and glorify our great God enough. Remember what He said through the prophet Isaiah? ‘I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise, to graven images.’ (Is. 42:8)
Oh my fellow saints, our God LOVES His praise and glory and can get rather petulant when we don’t give it to Him in sufficient quantity. (smile) I’m obviously being facetious when I say the Lord gets petulant, but He certainly isn’t pleased with the low level of praise that He currently receives from His wonderful creation, for whom He showed His great LOVE by sacrificing His only Son, Jesus Christ.
Listen, as the writer of Psalm 147, also emphasizes the importance of praising God. He opens the psalm thus: ‘Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah): for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely (beautiful).’ (Ps. 147:1) And if that still doesn’t convince you of the wisdom of continually singing God’s praises, then hear this other psalmist, who unabashedly declares: ‘Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.’ (Ps. 33:1)
And it certainly is necessary and beautiful for those who believe in the Lord God Jehovah to rejoice and sing His wonderful praises. ‘Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise (a shout of joy). For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. He LOVETH righteousness and judgement (justice): the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord… Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.’ (Ps. 33:3-5, 12)
And we all know Bruh Paul’s take on that situation. He simply says; ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say Rejoice.’ (Phil 4:4) So it’s obvious that praise and rejoicing should be a constant part of the true believer’s life. Now that doesn’t mean all we do is rejoice and give praise, the way many of us would like to believe, (smile) but we live productive lives for Jesus while giving thanks and praise wherever necessary or possible. Throughout our day, especially if we see the definite movement of His hand, we can always stop for a moment and say ‘Thank You Lord. We praise your Holy name.’
It’s stuff like that we are talking about. And that’s oh so easy to do when we keep the Lord first place in our minds and lives. But if He isn’t our Number One priority then we won’t be encouraged to continually say thanks and sing His praises. And this last psalm, Psalm 148 – All creation to praise the Lord – certainly says it all on the topic of praise.
So, let’s sing it together; ‘Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah): Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him from the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished (established) them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.’ (Ps. 148:1-6)
Yuh see there friends, even the tangible and intangible, breathless creations of God ought to thank Him and sing his awesome praise! So what do you think we, His most wonderful creation ought to do eh? Sing them too! In fact, as the last verse of the last Psalm, Psalm 150, wisely declares: ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah).’ (Ps. 150:6) And with all that talk about thanks and praise, I certainly hope that we’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest of thanks and praise in our souls this Tuesday morning, (smile) one that will continue unabated right through the day.
But now it’s time to go home, declaring (chuh!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one confident and sincere voice. ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’
Now, it’s our bounden duty to go out and share the awesome LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!
…if thanks is in our hearts…then praises should be heard from our mouths…
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