A morning practice of naming steadfast love before the day makes its demands.
It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands.
“To proclaim your loving kindness in the morning” asks what your first attention declares. The psalm calls thanksgiving good before it describes a good day. It joins morning love to faithfulness through the night. Morning thanks receives steadfast love before it can measure the day.
Your actual condition is reflexive self-protection. Before you have remembered God's faithfulness, you reach for your phone and search for evidence that the day will be manageable. That screen is a false refuge. It offers information, not steadfast love. Your gratitude weakens when you demand control before you give thanks.
The psalm's gladness comes through God's work, not through the singer's ability to secure the day. In Christ crucified, God's steadfast love has acted decisively for your sin. The cross is the work of his hands that your morning can name, whether gladness feels near or not. Let the first words belong to thanksgiving: will you proclaim his love before you consult the screen?
Morning thanks receives steadfast love before it can measure the day.
Lord Jesus, turn my first attention from control to your steadfast love and finished work.
Bring one honest question to today’s Scripture.
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