Give thanks to The Lord.

I noticed for the first time this morning, the first and the last verses of Psalms 118.

O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever! (Psalm 118:1 AMP)

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever. (Psalm 118:29 AMP)

I was reading through this chapter this morning for my daily devotional. The chapter itself is pretty awesome. I read of the author taking great joy in what the Lord has done for his life. He begins by praising God and saying that all of Israel should be repeating "His faithful love endures forever."

The verses contain insight into his life, of his battles and struggles in life. He writes, "Though hostile nations surrounded me, I destroyed them all in the name of The Lord.
You did your best to kill me, O my enemy, but The Lord helped me."

There is nothing more honoring, to me, than giving complete and total credit to God for the successes of my life. I've become accustomed, while at work, to thank God and give Him credit when I have a sale during my shifts. When the customer leaves and I am getting my paper work in order, I usually say "Thank you Jesus for blessing me with that sale", or something along those lines. It's sort of a personal declaration for me. It's almost like I'm reminding myself that it wasn't luck that brought the customer into the store at that moment. It wasn't my expertise that convinced them to make the purchase. But it was God who ordained that moment to happen. As I type those words I'm thinking to myself, "well what does it mean when customers don't come into the store and you don't make money?"

All I know is that I find comfort in thanking Him for the obviously good happenings in my life.

Psalm 118 reads like this could have been a morning prayer the author prayed. I've always found it easier to praise and be joyous in the mornings than in the evening prayers. I think that's normal. It’s as if something inside me says, "set your day up right and praise God." However, in the evening, it's easier to be more 'real' with God and tell Him exactly what I'm thinking. Not that I'm not being 'real' when I praise Him in the morning, but there's something about the late and dark hours of the day that bring me to reflect on that specific day and forget all the other days I've had. If Wednesday was a really hard day to handle, well Wednesday night I'd probably complain to God and be upset, but come Thursday morning I'm ready to praise Him and give thanks for everything He's done for my life. It's kind of sad and funny how I feel like I can complain about a rough Wednesday when conversing with the creator of the universe!

Anyway, when it comes to Psalm 118, the author makes a point to say "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever!" at the very beginning of the chapter and also at the very end. When I look at this chapter in the course of an entire day, it makes me smile. Considering this psalm is written throughout one single day, the author makes the point of saying, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever!" He says it as the sun rises and then says these same words again when the sun sets.

I wonder how important that is for my own life. I should be praising God with exclamation points throughout my entire day. Morning, noon, and night. I should always remember the glorious redemption of Him, bringing back to my memory how He has saved and blessed my life in times past.

From now on, the words "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever!" shall linger upon my lips. They shall be remembered in my mind, and felt deep within the caverns of my heart through out my days, no matter what time of the day it is or how much sunlight still reflects on the open skies.