Daily Devotional For Thursday, July 9, 2026
Good morning Southside and our daily devotional for today comes from Psalm 105:1-4:
“Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim His greatness. Let the whole world know what He has done. (2) Sing to Him; yes, sing His praises. Tell everyone about His wonderful deeds. (3) Exalt in His holy name; rejoice, you who worship the LORD. (4) Search for the LORD and for His strength; continually seek Him” (NLT).
What wonderful words for us today. If you were to read this whole psalm, you see that it praises God for all of His wonderful wonders to Israel. It praises God for keeping His word to His people. This psalm calls the child of God to praise God for His faithfulness. This psalm calls the child of God to proclaim how great our God is. This is not just for the priests or prophets alone, but to all of God’s people. Isn’t it amazing how quickly we share other great news such as a promotion at work, a pregnancy or birth or birthday or anniversary. We are not silent on these, are we?
Puritan Pastor Richard Baxter had these words inscribed on his pulpit for him to see every time he preached: “Give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people” (KJV) – (Source: James Montgomery Boice, Psalms, 3 Vols., Vol. 2, p. 846). This statement should be the goal and motto of all believers in Christ out of thanksgiving for all God has done for us. Every family around the dinner table should do this just before they eat as a way to express their gratitude to the Lord.
Notice in verse 2 that singing goes with teaching. This means our music in worship must be doctrinally sound. They must lift up the Lord and not us. Our music must not be about making us feel good about ourselves, but about the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm after psalm tells of God’s grace and love for His people, His salvation He has given to us, and His deliverance of us from certain trials and temptations.
Verse 3 reminds us that worship music is not just music we sing to sing it. It is to be such praise that only God is honored, not the musicians or leaders or singers. Verse four reminds us that our worship should remind us of our dependency on the Lord and our commitment to stay dependent on Him and not on anything of ourselves or others. Old Testament scholar David Dickson writes this: “It is a part of God’s praise and of our thankfulness, to profess our need of God, and in the consciousness of our emptiness and His unsearchable riches, to seek our supply in Him” (Source: David. Dickson, A Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. 2, p. 237).
Worship is to remind us not just to sing or tithe or read our Bibles, but to remind us how dependent we are to be on the Lord. Think of it this way: we come together to worship as the body of Christ, but God is the heartbeat of our worship. Just like your body dies when your heart stops, so does our worship when we make it about ourselves and not our dependence on the Lord. So many churches have turned to making worship a “rock concert” with bands, lasers, lights, smoke, and etc. Their worship leaders work to work the worshippers up into an emotional experience when that is not worship. Worship is not about entertaining ourselves but in exalting the Lord, our Savior.
Reflection Assignment: When you attend a worship service, are you sitting or standing there judging what is happening or are you focusing solely on the Lord? If you attend Christian concerts, regardless of the genre or style of music, do you talk about how the audience praised the Lord or do you talk more about the singers and the songs? Next time in worship, push yourself to focus only on you personally praising the Lord for all He has done for you.
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 106:1, “Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, forgive me when I make worship about myself and what I want rather than all about You. I promise that from now on I will make my worship all about You. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly