“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).
The Psalms are famous for the depths of emotion they express. They serve as models for prayer, illustrating how we can come to God in utter honesty. Some of the most powerful psalms deal with such intense topics as grief and hatred. But some of them are free from any trace of bitterness. Some of them were written for one purpose: to praise the God who is great simply because He exists.
Psalm 92 is one such psalm. In it, the psalmist reflects that it is good to praise God day and night, singing of His love in the morning and His faithfulness in the evening. He invites his audience to give thanks to God before their day even begins, orienting themselves around Him. Then, when the day is done, the psalmist encourages a time of reflection on how God has revealed Himself that day, ending in a time of thanksgiving. Thus the day is bookended with thoughts of and praises to God.
The psalmist gives a reason for this: “For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy” (v. 4). He goes on to describe how God has delivered him from his enemies and has made him like a fruitful tree. But his focus is not on his circumstances. His purpose behind writing is simply to praise God. The righteous, he declares, bear fruit so that they can proclaim God’s greatness. They are not fruitful for their own benefit; their prosperity has happened to show others that God is great and worthy of praise.
We were made to praise God. Even if He never did anything in our lives, still we would glorify Him. He deserves all of it!