Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
To show forth thy loving-kindness - To celebrate thy mercy; thy goodness; thy love.
In the morning - That is, there is a fitness in doing this in the morning; or, there are special reasons why we should do this at that time.
(a) We have been preserved through the dangers of the night; dangers when we were asleep, unconscious, and defenseless.
(b) Life is then, as it were, a new gift - for we are raised from "the image of death" - sleep - and we should regard life then "as if" we had been raised from the dead.
(c) To praise God in the morning will have a good influence on us, in promoting cheerfulness; in making us benignant and kind; in preparing us for the toils and trials of the day.
There is no better preparation for a day, in view of its burdens, cares, toils, and trials, than a thankful, cheerful mind in the morning. He who begins a day with a sour, a morose, a complaining, an irritable spirit - who has been preserved through the night, and sees nothing to be thankful for in the morning - will be a miserable man through the day, and will make all miserable around him. He who sees nothing to be thankful for in the morning will see nothing to hope for in the day; he who has no gratitude for the past, will have no bright anticipations of the future.
And thy faithfulness - Faithfulness in the laws of nature; in thy promises; in thy character: in thy providential dealings with people.
Every night - Margin, in the nights." The reference is to the return of evening; and the meaning is, that it is a good thing, or that it is appropriate to contemplate the faithfulness of God at the close of every day.
(a) The mind is then calm, after the toils of the day are over.
(b) The time - evening - its stillness - its twilight - its approaching darkness - all is favorable for reflection.
(c) There is much in every day to be thankful for, and it is well to recall it at night.
(d) It has a happy effect on the mind when we are about to lie down to rest, to recall the mercies of God; to reflect on what he has done for us; to gather, from his kindness in the past, lessons of confidence and hope for the times to come.
We lie down at night more calmly in proportion as we are disposed at the close of a day to think of the mercies which we have received at the hand of God; and the recalling of those mercies to remembrance with the voice, and with instruments of praise, is always an appropriate mode of closing a day.
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