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, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

Psalm 92:1 — 4

What a prescription!

That is what it exactly is – a prescription on what is good for you and me. You see, just like the prescription by health professionals to consume our five-a-day of fruit and vegetables for our good, so too the psalmist is, under the watchful eye and inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself, authoritatively prescribing that which is for our own good.

What then is being prescribed to us for our own good?

What is it that is good for us to do?

Three things.

1. The first is to give thanks to the Lord, to be those who are always thankful to God for everything.
2. The second is to sing praises to His name, make melody to and wax lyrical for Christ. It is healthy and wholesome to do so and not weird and whacky.
3. Third is not to hold back but be bold in declaring His steadfast love and faithfulness, how good, merciful and gracious God is. God Himself did that.

Exodus 34:6

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…

This is who our God is and we are to unashamedly declare His unchanging character over our lives, families and every situation we face or even find ourselves in. The psalmist could not be any clearer as to what it is that is good for us, our wellbeing.

The question the psalmist answers next is, when or how often are we supposed to do all this?

According to him, every morning and every night. That is how often we should get stuck into the practise of giving thanks to the Lord, singing praises to His name and boldly declaring His character and person over ourselves, our lives and situations. In other words, daily.

This is not meant to be a once-a-week exercise that we engage in on Sundays but a daily routine we are to devotedly lock in to.

Next, on the point of how this is to be done, the psalmist ramps it up by stating that we should go all in with music, melody and all types of musical instruments as we give thanks, sing praises and declare God’s goodness towards us. We are to daily make music to the Lord in our personal prayer closets and not be shy or withdrawn – all for our own good.

Colossians 3:16

…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Finally, the psalmist addresses the reason why we should do all that – in response to God’s wondrous works. Joy and gladness at the glorious and great work of God’s hands should be what inspires and drives our thanksgiving, praise and declaration. At the bottom of all our thanksgiving, praise and declaration lies the work of God’s hands. That is why the psalmist exclaims in Psalms 92:5

How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

It should therefore be our desire and prayer for God to open the eyes of our hearts for us to see for ourselves His wondrous works just like Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 1:15 – 20. In the meantime though, while we grow in that knowledge we are still commanded in scripture – and that in the New Testament – to offer a continual sacrifice of praise to God through Christ.

Hebrews 13:15

Through him [Christ] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.