It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night… (Psalm 92:1-2, NIV)
The eye can skate over a passage of Scripture without noticing things – but if you pause, what gems lie in the details!
Just so with these verses from Psalm 92. At first sight, it looks as if the writer just wants to praise God at both ends of the day. But he is more specific: he wants to praise God for His love in the morning, and for his faithfulness at night.
Thinking about this, isn’t there a lesson for us?
We wake up in the morning, and (particularly if we carry responsibility) we can often be worried by what’s going on, or what lies ahead during the day for us. Thoughts spin through our heads – and this is the moment when many, even before they’ve really got going, reach for the phone to check everything!
This, says the Psalmist, is when he praises God for His love. How wonderfully helpful to know that this is God’s constant attitude to all who are redeemed. He loves us enough to have sent His Son to die for us. As he goes into another day, the writer goes in the knowledge that God loves him!
At night, though, the Psalmist praises God for His faithfulness. Evening is a good time to look back and be thankful. Then we can recall just how faithful God has been to us. One practice which can be helpful (as well as being a matter of common courtesy to our God!) is to think of, say, five things to give thanks for from the day that is ending. These remind us of just how generously our God has stuck with us, providing for us.
Perhaps also, in waking in the night, when everything can seem worse, it is also good then to recall God’s faithfulness. “’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home”.
