Praise the LORD, for He is Good

That is not exactly what the title of the passage I am in this morning says, for me though, it really fits nicely.

“¹Praise the LORD!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

²Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD,

or declare all his praise?

³Blessed are they who observe justice,

who do righteousness at all times!” — Psalm 106:1-3 (ESV)

I look at the whole passage of Psalm 106 and see all of the actions taken by God’s chosen people, the Israelites, and see nothing in their actions that demonstrate that God should be merciful and be all in with them. They were saved, by God, from Pharaoh and his army as they escaped Egypt. And yet they forgot and looked away from Him to idols. They put God to the test. They were again saved as Moses interceded for them, and yet they found another idol to worship. They were interceded again for by Phinehas and were saved again. And yet again they turned from Him, and angered the LORD.

After all of this, the LORD still loved His chosen people.

“⁴⁴Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,

when he heard their cry.

⁴⁵For their sake he remembered his covenant,

and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

⁴⁶He caused them to be pitied

by all those who held them captive.” — Psalm 106:44-46 (ESV)

God is good and He demonstrates that here in this passage. As much as His people turned away from Him, He did not give up on them. He loved them and cherished them and followed through on His promises to them.

And this should be a lesson to all of us. God loves us and when we have accepted the gift of salvation He freely gives, He will not turn away from us in the end. We are His and he loves us from now until eternity. That love does not mean that we will not disciplined when we are wrong, but it does mean that He will love us in spite of those wrongs and that discipline is the demonstration of that love.

The LORD is worthy of praise, for He is good and loving to us, even when we are not showing our love of Him.

“⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

Praise the LORD!” — Psalm 106:48 (ESV)

What have you done that may not be exactly deserving of the love of the LORD? Are you aware that He loves you anyway and will not turn away from you as you have accepted the salvation He freely gives? What if you allowed Him to demonstrate His love for you and you were to lift Him up in praise, for He is good for loving you?