Our Good Lord is worthy. The Lord God is worth praising because He is good. He is the standard for good. When we praise Him, we are speaking the Truth about Him and we are confessing our faith in Him.

It is good for us to praise Him because, in confession, our hearts are lifted and our Spirit is encouraged.

This month, I am #CuratingtheGood, searching out the good and organizing my findings. I started by searching the Bible for verses that use the word “good.” What I found is that “good” is only one possible translation of the Hebrew word Tôwb; it means the kind of good that you can experience; for example: goodness in terms of what you can taste, beautiful in terms of what you can see, and an agreeable Word in terms of what you hear.

• Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8, NLT).
• Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad (Proverbs 12:25, ESV).
• Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry (Psalm 34:12-15, NIV).

Experiencing God

God is The Good that we can experience. God dwells with us and allows us to know Him. Walking with Him is living the good life. We encounter the absolute beauty and excellence of the Lord, then we are compelled to proclaim:

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power (Revelation 4:11, ESV).

Jesus promised that the world would be full of trouble. And we know this is true. Some days everything feels wrong and we long to see/feel/taste goodness. If we yearn to experience God and know His goodness, we begin by praising Him:

Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting (Psalm 147:1, NIV).

Sometimes praise doesn’t come. Our hearts feel far from God and we can’t shake the funk.  God’s Word is clear: He will be found and to find Him is our good.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near (Is 55:6, NIV).

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7, NIV)

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works (Psalm 73:28, NASB).

Praise Him. Praise His Name, His work, His plan, His goodness. Praise Him because He is good.

The Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

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