Declare God: A Psalm 92 Devotional

Declare God: A Psalm 92 Devotional

It is good to give thanks to the Lord
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
² To declare Your loving-kindness in the morning
And Your faithfulness by night,
³ With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,
With resounding music upon the lyre.
⁴ For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done,
I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

⁵ How great are Your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep.
⁶ A senseless man has no knowledge,
Nor does a stupid man understand this:
⁷ That when the wicked sprouted up like grass
And all who did iniquity flourished,
It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.
⁸ But You, O Lord, are on high forever.
⁹ For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For, behold, Your enemies will perish;
All who do iniquity will be scattered.

¹⁰ But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.
¹¹ And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes,
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.
¹² The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ Planted in the house of the Lord,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will still yield fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and very green,
¹⁵ To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. [NASB]

David speaks from a thankfulness in this psalm. Each of us come to days where thanks to God rings from our lips. We have other days when we become too rushed to think about thanking God or we are too overwhelmed with the burdens of life to see beyond what we face at that time. For these kinds of days, we most importantly need to praise God.

When we reach days of despair or difficulties, speaking praise, though it may not at first be in our hearts, renews our hope and lifts our spirits. As we continue speaking praise, what our lips say reaches into our beings, into our hearts, so we begin to take to heart what we are saying. After that, our minds comprehend the depth of the praise and the worthiness of the recipient so that our whole being joins the lips in praise. When we get to this point, we no longer must make ourselves praise the Lord. Instead, it bubbles over from the depths of our soul and nothing can contain it. That is when we realize the despair and difficulties we are facing are nothing compared to God – His greatness and His love.

From this point is where David speaks in Psalm 92. Though he did not know what the next day held, whether enemies would surround him or famine fall on the land, he knew Who was mightier than these and upon Whom he could rely.

David declared it good to thank the Lord and sing praises to Him. Even when in the depths of difficulties, God does not change and is always worthy of praise. David gave reasons God deserves praise as if being majestic almighty God is not enough. He praised Him for what He has and continues to do.

·         Praise God because of His loving-kindness and faithfulness.

·         Praise God for the works of His hands.

·         Praise Him for the depth and wisdom of His thoughts.

·         Praise God because He was, is, and always will reign as Lord over all.

·         Praise God because He always wins the battles and wars against His enemies.

·         Praise God because He judges and He will scatter people who do evil will (so they cannot group up and cause devastation)

·         Praise God because He provides abundantly so you are strong, have all you need, and are His child.

·         Praise God because He gives hope knowing our foes will be defeated.

·         Praise God because He has given you deep roots to stand strong with him and the ability to bend and not break, like the palm tree, when difficulties arise.

·         Praise God that He keeps you standing strong and upright like the cedars of Lebanon.

·         Praise God that He planted you in His house as His child so you will flourish and dwell in His courts.

·         Praise God that He will not discard us when we age, but continues to use us to yield fruit in old age. We are never cast aside and always taken care of.

·         Praise God because He is righteous and strong. He is the rock upon which I stand.

·         Praise God no unrighteousness is in Him. We can trust He is always fair, always loving, always right.

We can join David in this psalm. I believe when he wrote this He was remembering his walk with the Lord from the time he was a lonely shepherd to his current time as king. David also remembered who God was and had been for His chosen people Israel. With the magnitude of who God is and what He has done for all His children, David could only praise God. Nothing would stop him from praising God.

Whether we are in a place of difficulties or ease, reading David’s psalms re-center us in who God is, and who we are and what we face. As children of God, we are small in the face of trials, but our God is greater than anything we face and wiser than any person. He will get us through it, but more than that, our relationship with Him can grow as we stand back and let God be God and in control of everything. Then, we will be able to declare God’s loving-kindness, mercy, and righteousness as David did here.