This week my thoughts come from Psalm 100, another short Psalm, but one packed with quite a lot to chew on. I want to focus on what Psalm 100 tells us about God and about God’s people.
Verse 5 tells us three facts about the LORD God. The first of these facts is that He is good. When I think about the term good, I tend to think of the opposite term evil, in order to define it. Good is the absence of evil, in a way morally perfect, but something deeper, because with this goodness of God there is also a showing of kindness and generosity that goes along with it. God is good! Verse 5 also tells us that God’s love is steadfast or faithful and it endures forever. This simply means, we can count on God’s love. God’s love is with us and it will not depart from us, it endures. God loves His people! The third fact is that the LORD God is faithful. This means if you are His, you are His forever. I am called to be faithful to my wife, and likewise if you are married you are called to remain faithful to your spouse. We have made vows to our spouses to remain faithful to each other, although some fail at this, God will always remain faithful, He will never leave or forsake us. Just as a little application here, imitate God’s faithfulness in your marriage, be a picture of faithfulness to the rest of the world.
Now on to God’s people. When I looked at the first 4 verses there were three actions we are called to that struck me. The first we are to serve the LORD. Not only are we called to serve the LORD, but to serve Him with gladness. When we think of serving the LORD, I don’t want us to be narrow minded, because as we learn from Jesus this idea of serving is not narrow, but rather pretty wide. Jesus, when teaching about the final judgement in Matthew, teaches that when you serve the least of these (brothers and sisters in need), you serve Him. (Matthew 25:31-46) We must serve with gladness! The next actions we are called to is to shout and sing. We are to shout triumphantly and sing joyfully. We are to praise the LORD God for who He is with shouts and songs of joy! Finally we are called to know that the LORD is God, that He made us, we are His, we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Know, acknowledge, and tell people that we are His!
This all culminates in verse 4 where we are called to enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, and to give thanks to Him and bless His name. We are called to this because of who He, the LORD God, is and who we are in Him. We are His people, let us make it known with not only when we enter His courts, but when we sing and shout joyfully and triumphantly about who He is, and when we serve Him and others with joy!
Thanks for reading,
Pastor Josh