Encouragements for our troubled times No. 56
COVID-19 Series | Date: 15 April 2021
The Elders and Deacons want to encourage the members and those who regularly meet with us through this weekly letter. If you have news which you would be happy to share with the fellowship or request for prayer, then please let us know.
A message from our Pastor
** Psalm 92:1-2**
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.”
One of the things that we as Christians are often found lacking in is giving thanks to our God. We are given every good and perfect thing in our lives so freely by our God that we often take Him and them for granted; as though we are owed them or have in some way merited them. We take our prayers to our God and immediately launch into supplication and forget the giving of thanks. And when we do offer up thanks to Him it is often short because we do not know what we have to be thankful for. Well, here in this Psalm we are told three things we can always thank our God for. But first, the Psalmist tells us that ‘it is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to His name.’ Now the Psalmist does not mean this in a general sense; that it is a good thing as opposed to a bad thing. When he says it is good, he means that it is good in God’s eyes. In other words, this is something that God expects from us and wants from us. This is borne out by the fact that this Psalm is God’s Word and exhortation to us; and we are many times told to give thanks to our God throughout the Scriptures. It is something that we should think about, meditate upon, and be often doing.
And the first thing that the Psalmist tells us we can give thanks for and sing praises to Him for is His name, O Most High. His name sums up who He is and describes His attributes to us. He is the Most High, there is no one like Him; no one in Heaven or on earth. He is Sovereign and rules over all bringing about His will in all things. He is Almighty and none can thwart Him or stay His hand. He is Most High in His Wisdom and Knowledge, knowing all things, seeing all things, and aware of all things all the time; and by His Wisdom and Knowledge doing what is perfect, true and right all of the time. He is Most High in His Holiness, Love, Grace, and in every one of His glorious attributes. O, how we ought to sing His praises His most wonderful name and give thanks that He, the Most High, has chosen us, set His love upon us, redeemed us, keeps us, and will love us through all eternity.
The second thing that the Psalmist tells us we can give thanks for and sing praises to Him for in the morning is His Lovingkindness. Lovingkindness is the combination of two words; Loving and kindness. He is all love and everything that He does is out of love and done in kindness; especially to His children. Now we should always be thanking God for His Lovingkindness but the morning is an eminently suitable time to be thankful for it. It is in the morning as the day stretches out before us that we can give thanks that our God loves us and has proven that to us in His kindness towards us day by day. We can give thanks that He loves us and will never leave us, that He will work all things together for our good, that He watches over us, cares for us, provides for us, and will keep us for Himself to the end.
And lastly, the Psalmist tells us we can give thanks for and sing praises to Him in the evening for His Faithfulness. He is Faithful in everything. He is faithful to His children, to His Word and His promises. He will always be faithful because he is Almighty and none can thwart Him. He is always Faithful because His Word is Truth and He never says anything that He will not do. He is always faithful to us because He loves us and nothing can change His love for us. He is always Faithful because that is who He is and He cannot change. Again, we should always be thankful to Him for His Faithfulness but in the evening, when we reflect on all His faithfulness to us during the day, we have cause to sing His praises.
Great is Thy faithfulness’, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see! All I have needed Thy hand hath provided - Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!