Praise The Lord

Reading the following Psalm is a great way to start the day.  The people of every nation on earth are encouraged to praise God for His kindness and great love towards them. 

Praise the Lord, all you nations.  Praise him, all you people of the earth.  For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.  Praise the Lord! Psalm 117:1-2

Well, you and I are both people of the earth so I think this command is meant for us.  But, thankfully, what leads to that outpouring of praise is what God offers to us every day and demonstrates to those who open their hearts and lives to Him, “His unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.”

It's one thing to be told we should do something and another when all the events going on in us and around us lead to a heart that just naturally moves in that direction.  That’s what I see in these simple words as well.  Yes, we’re told to “Praise the Lord”  at the beginning of the quote but that “Praise the Lord” really seems to me to be that natural expression at having experienced something so real and so good that our wonder and gratitude and praise just come out of our heart and find their way to our lips. 

Those of us who have given our will and life over to the care of God know we no longer carry the baggage of our past sin and the accompanying guilt and shame.  We have been forgiven and declared blameless by the kindness of God in sending Jesus into the world to set us free from the power of sin.  We are now His cherished children.  If that’s not something to praise God for, what is? Here are some words of praise that help me express my response to this:

How priceless your faithful love is!  People find safety in the shadow of your wings.  They eat well because there is more than enough in your house.  You let them drink from your river that flows with good things. Psalm 36:7-8

At times we may feel undeserving of the goodness of God and bottom line is we actually are BUT God loves, God gives, God restores, God blesses.  

Loving Heavenly Father, we do want to praise You today and give You thanks with everything that is in us.  You have been a generous God who has always responded to us with unfailing love. We are grateful for all that Jesus has done for us. We ask You to give us the will and desire to live our lives in praise and thanksgiving for all we have today and all that is promised to us going forward in and through Jesus.  Amen

Let’s improve our conscious contact with God and praise Him that, because of Him, we have goodness and mercy following us all the days of our life.