It Really is Good

Good means good. And it is good to give thanks to the Lord.

Good means beneficial and advantageous for us. As in: it’s good to eat fruits and vegetables, and to exercise. They are beneficial. Giving thanks to God boosts our health too. It really is good.

But good means more. It also means fitting and appropriate. As in: it is good to be on time to a wedding, not to show up in your sweatpants, and to silence your phone. These are fitting for the occasion—and thanking God is too. It really is good.

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night” (Psalm 92:1-2).

It is good to bookend our days with praise. “In the morning” implies eagerness and “by night,” describes devotion. It can be as simple as thanking God for three things before you roll out of bed and for three more before you turn out the light.

It is also good for us to declare God’s praise publicly—so good that the psalmist ends Psalm 92 with an amazing statement. He describes the righteous, who still bear fruit in old age: “They are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalm 92:14b-15).

Did you catch that? The reason we’re here is “to declare” God’s praise. Nothing strengthens my weary soul more than hearing a seasoned saint testify to the faithfulness of God.

No matter our age, it is fitting and beneficial to bookend our days with thanks. It really is good to give thanks to the Lord.