Thanksgiving and Praise

“O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Yes, Lord, You are so good! You are good and do only good (Psalm 119:68 NLT). I praise You for Your total goodness. I also thank You for Your goodness to me.
Thank you for your unending mercy and loving-kindness! How I need Your mercy! If I continued to look at how often I’ve failed to show love or have gone my own way, surely I would faint from discouragement. But Your mercy is fresh every morning (Lamentations 3:23), and it endures forever! Thank You!

In the New Living Translation, “loving-kindness” is translated “faithful love.”Thank You, Lord, for Your faithful love! Your love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

“Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?” (Psalm 106:1-2)

“All the praise that is due God”—indeed, Lord, You are worthy of unending praise. No matter how many praises I sing or say, You are worthy of more.

“Bless (Affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalm 103:1)

O my soul, when you are tempted to feel sad or discouraged, remember God’s goodness and mercy and faithful love. Put into words some of His mighty deeds. Then affectionately and gratefully praise your Lord and bless His holy Name. And remember that His mercy and faithful love (even for you) ENDURE FOREVER!

(Scripture quotes are from the Amplified Bible.)

 

Taste Test

          “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8 New Living Translation)
I always thought of “tasting” in this verse as “taking a little sample” of God, like tasting the soup to see if it has enough salt. Since the rest of the verse says that the taste reveals God’s goodness, that understanding is probably right.
However, today I thought about “tasting” God like I taste my favorite foods. As I eat them, I savor and enjoy them. They satisfy me and give me energy and nourishment. Today I think I’ll savor and enjoy God. He will nourish and satisfy me. As I wait on Him, He will renew my strength (Isaiah 40:31). I will delight more and more in His goodness.

 

Unfailing Love, Vast As the Heavens

    Psalms 36:5, 7-8 “Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds…. 7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. 8 You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights” (New Living Translation)
Thank You, Lord, for letting us drink from Your river of delights (or as the New King James puts it, the river of Your pleasures). Thank You for Your written Word, O Lord and for the hymns I grew up with. They seem to me to be gifts of love from Your river of delights. You are so good to us, Lord!
“From our mother’s arms [You have] blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love” (from “Now Thank We All Our God”). Countless gifts of love—like the hymns, the Scriptures, my learning to sing harmony, the help to believe Your love for me as an individual, a song on the radio that calmed one of my fears at just the right time, a letter that calmed me in panic, an ability to read music, the hymn books I have, and on and on. Also Lord, Your nearness, compassion, and tender mercies are gifts of Your love.
Part of the first verse of the hymn “I Am Thine, O Lord,” says, “I have heard Thy voice, and it told Thy love to me.” Yes, every time You speak and help me to hear is a gift that tells Your love to me.
The first 2 verses of “This Is My Father’s World” remind me that You speak to me through nature and that You speak to me everywhere. Thank You!
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy [or “faithful love”] endures forever.” (Psalms 136:1 New King James Version)
Every good and perfect (appropriate, timely) gift is from You. As Ps. 36:7 says, “How precious is Your unfailing love (lovingkindness), O God!”

Free from the Pit–Part 2

I need to “watch and pray” so I won’t enter into temptation (Luke 22:46). I must be on the alert because my adversary the devil roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). I’ve let him devour me far too many times by listening to the thoughts he wedges in—thoughts of guilt, failure, regret, anger, and disappointment to name a few. Before long, I’m down in a bog of hopelessness.
I could get out of the bog quicker if I’d remember things like God’s mercies being new every morning and God’s unfailing, eternal love for me and other good things before the evil thoughts start building on themselves.
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” –2 Corinthians 10:5 New American Standard Updated

God Is Good

When I think of Your goodness and all You’ve done for me,
I will speak and sing and shout my praise to Thee.

When I recall Your mercy, Your lovingkindness and Your grace,
I’m filled with longing to forever gaze upon Your face.

When I remember Your love and the greatness of Your power,
Though the enemy oppresses, I know that You are my strong tower.