Worthy of Praise

"The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." (Psalm 145:9)

The Lord is good to all because the Lord is good. I wonder how many times the King James Version uses that expression. I'll look it up right now.... Seven. I'm surprised the number isn't higher. But that's OK. The fact is, the Scriptures are stuffed full of demonstrations of the goodness of the Lord.

Come to think of it, my own life has ample evidences that the Lord is good. And that's what this lesson should remind us of. Each of us knows the Lord is good because we have experienced it. Therefore, He is worthy of praise -- our praise!

Well, back to the verse above.... All the Lord has done, is doing, and will do is covered by and immersed in His tender mercies. All of it. We can rest in that, even when we go through life experiences that tear, break, crush, and hurt us. Especially when we go through such times do we need to remember and prop ourselves up against that certainty.

The Lord is good to all and in that goodness He works in tender, merciful ways.

To what kind of commitment will that goodness, tenderness, and mercy lead us?

First of all, it should assure us that we can confidently and whole-heartedly cast ourselves upon Him. With all assurance and trust we can serve Him with utter abandon, holding back nothing because He is worthy of that kind of surrender and that kind of service.

Secondly, it should draw from us words and lives that praise Him. Notice that the first two verses of this Psalm state this type of commitment openly and plainly:

"I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever."

"Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever."

How have you blessed God today? Has He received any praise from me today?

He deserves to be greatly praised -- "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised" (3).

He deserves to have His works praised from one age group to another -- "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts" (4).

He deserves to have people review His past goodness -- "They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness" (7).

He deserves to have His people be a source of blessing to Him by their lives -- "thy saints shall bless thee" (10).

He deserves all that because He alone has earned it. He is worthy! Will I commit myself to giving Him at least a small portion of what He deserves?

"Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2).