Psalms 90-108
*image courtesy of my buddy Billy at stock.xchng
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
You’ll find this phrase all over the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 16:34, 41; 2 Chronicles 5:13, 7:3, 7:6, 20:21; Psalms 106:1, 107:1, 118:1, 118:29, 136:1-3, 136:26; Jeremiah 33:11). It seems to have started with David, and became a customary word of praise. It sometimes was used as a call and response, where the leader would say the first two parts, and the congregation would respond with “His love endures forever!”
Today we came across the first of eight uses of it in the Psalms. We talked previously about this phrase (Day 34), but there we focused on the faithful love aspect. Today, we will look at the middle section of the phrase, “for He is good.” There is a saying today that is somewhat parallel in that it is widely known and frequently used by many churches. It goes like this:
Leader: God is good!
Congregation: All the time!
Leader: And all the time…
Congregation: God is good!
Hearing this on a regular basis, just like hearing the phrase from psalms frequently, is a good thing. It serves as a reminder to us of one of God’s essential attributes – His goodness. This is what I call one of God’s “omnis.” He is omnipresent (He is everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), and omnibenevolent (all good). Now, without the fourth omni, the other three are pretty scary.
Think about it for a minute.
Imagine a Being that is everywhere, knows everything, and can do anything. That’s a bit scary. All that power, but can you trust it? Isn’t that the great fear in Superman 3? The man of steel loses it after being subjected to red kryptonite, and goes on a rampage. The world’s greatest hero becomes the world’s greatest villain because now all his power is not being harnessed by good intentions. Now, multiply that by infinity, and this is the Malevolent Being we’re talking about!
What makes the God of the Bible who He is instead of a cosmic sadist is that He is good. It is the goodness of God that makes it so we can trust Him. Unlike some religions that must appease their god through ritual and sacrifice, we can serve God with a glad heart, trusting that He is all good all the time. We don’t have to worry about Him suddenly snuffing out the universe. He is good. And as we’ve discussed before, even when things seem to be going bad, God is still good and is working out His plan (Romans 8:28).
Let’s remember this. Let’s give thanks to the Lord, because He is good. Let’s praise Him with our words, our actions, and our lives, because He is good and His love endures forever.
*originally at Words of Reason
Words of Reason 