Peace of Praise

"It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!"

~Psalm 92:1-5

Growing up, I wrestled with a lot of spiritual insecurity. As such, I was likely to read statements that something was "good" as a moral imperative. To read passages like this one as the reality that God is worthy of our praise, and we should praise Him. And then of course, I'd see all the places I fell short.

But there's a reason this psalm is titled "for the Sabbath." Yes, God is worthy of our praise, but the "good" addressed in the first verse is not one of moral imperative but of deep refreshing.

Because it is good to praise God. It is satisfying and renewing and deeply enriching. In a similar way that it is also good to be with friends, except that praise is so much more beautiful. 

And that's the walk we have with Christ. We have a deep refreshing in His presence. Our hearts were made to worship Him, and when we do, our hearts are satisfied in ways they can never be apart from Him. We were made to give Him praise, and it delights our hearts to do so. To know Him. To be in awe of Him. To be affected by who He is. And when we know who He is, praise is our only response. 

Praise is God's gift for the Sabbath. Too often we get lost in the stressors and distractions of daily life and do not sit in praise when that's exactly what we need to feel restored. As Mark 2:27 says, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." We need this time of rest. We need this freedom from productivity. From all the "shoulds" that too often rule me and have found their way into my faith. Freedom to be in the presence of God, to seek His face, to know His heart, to be in awe of His character, and to let praise pour from our lips and renew our hearts.

It is good to praise the Lord.