THURSDAY 23rd
Psalm 100
There are some Psalms that perhaps we can recall being used more frequently than others in Sunday morning worship services, and for me, when I hear particular Psalms, my mind immediately remembers individuals who I can recall who used to regularly read them or they take me back to a particular time – they were the favourites. Psalm 8 immediately reminds me of a lovely lady called Sonia that worshipped in the Church in Wrexham. Psalm 103 reminds me of an elderly man who used to make us smile as youngsters because he always used to say Psalm one ought three instead of one hundred and three.
This Psalm for today, Psalm 100, takes me back to my childhood Church in Madley, a little village in Herefordshire, the same place as Mr one ought three attended. I can remember verse 2 being displayed on the wall as a motto, ‘Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!’
This Psalm like many other Psalms, calls us to ‘come and to worship the Lord’.
Come with a joyful noise – that means that not all noise is joyful!
Come with singing, there is something powerful about song, and I believe that there is something especially powerful about congregational singing.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, we of all people should be a thankful people when we think of what God has done for us.
Enter his courts with praise, his praise should always be on our lips.
It gives to us the core for a worship service. Joyful noise, singing, thanksgiving, praise and blessing. But it also says serve the LORD with gladness, everything we do in the service of the Church should be done unto the Lord with gladness and in verse 3, ‘Know that the LORD, He is God!’ We come together in worship to KNOW the Lord, I believe worship should draw us closer to the Lord, and also expand our understanding of who he is and of what he has done and is doing and yet will do for us. Worship should excite us, but it should also ignite us, because the more we worship in spirit and in truth, the greater should be our awareness of God in our lives and the stronger our desire should be to get to know him more.
Returning to verse three, it also says. ‘It is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.’
When we come to worship, we are coming to bow down before the great Creator. He not only deserves our worship, but he has the right to demand it! He has made us, we are his, this reminds me of 1 Corinthians 6:20 ‘For you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.’
We don’t belong to ourselves; we belong to God we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. There is a personal challenge to each of us here, as to glorifying God, in that we need to be careful that we don’t dishonour God through our actions, in the things which we do and the things we say each day.
Psalm 95:6-7 says, ‘Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.’
Then the final verse (100:5) reminds us ‘For the LORD is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.’
This is why we worship, why we praise, why we bring joyful noise / songs, and serve with gladness because the LORD who has made us is a GOOD God, he loves us with enduring love and he is faithful to all generations – as he was faithful 4000 years ago, 3000 years ago, 2000 years ago, 1000 years ago so he still is today and will be in 1000 years, 2000, 3000, 4000 . . . . Lamentations 3:22-23 ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’
Why should we make, serve, come, know, enter and give – for many thousand reasons but in particular because of Gods steadfast love and faithfulness.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hands hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside
Thomas Chisholm CCLI 788682