Entering His Gates With Thanksgiving - A Meditation on Pslam 100

Psalm 100
¹ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! ²Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! ³Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. ⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! ⁵For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Verse 1 - Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

•          David wrote this Psalm as a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
•          David began by telling people they should make a joyful noise to the Lord.
•          Most of us get far more excited at a football game than we do at sharing all the things God has done for us.

Verse 2 - Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

•          David tells his readers that they should serve the Lord with gladness.
•          What are some ways that we can serve the Lord?
•          Is it possible to serve God without gladness? Yes, but what a terrible way to live one’s life.
•          David tells his readers to come into God’s presence with singing. Music is an important part of our lives. Christian music makes us feel closer to God.
•          One thing that can help our singing be more worshipful is singing songs that we can sing TO God, not just ones that we can sing ABOUT God.

Verse 3 -Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

•          God is the Lord of the universe. Lord means master, ruler, or controller.
•          We live in a world that has worked very hard to tell us that God is either not real, or that He is weak and not really in charge of the universe.
•          It is important to know that God is real and that He is Lord over all things because when we forget that, we tend to think we are in control of everything. Life has a way of reminding us again and again that we are not in control. So if we try to be, we will be constantly disappointed.
•          The Bible teaches both in this verse and in many other places that God made us. This is different than what most of us have been taught in school. We are the special creation of a mighty God not the accident of a muddy glob!!!!

Verse 4 - Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

•          When we come before the Lord, we should come with thanksgiving and praise. There is a difference between thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving is being grateful for what God HAS DONE FOR US. Praise is being excited about WHO GOD IS.
•          We should be thankful to God for the many things he has done for us.
•          We should praise God just for being who he is.

Verse 5 - For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

•          David wanted his readers to know that the Lord really is good. Sometimes we doubt the goodness of God when bad things happen to us that we do not understand. But God is always working for our good, even when it does not seem like it.
•          We know God is always working for our good because God’s love is steadfast.
•          Steadfast means it holds true no matter what.
•          Sometimes our love for God goes up and down depending our how we feel or what may be going on in our lives. But God’s love for us NEVER waivers. God’s love endures forever.

Conclusion:

•          We should pray prayers of thanksgiving to God. To do that well, we must:
        •          Serve the Lord with gladness
       •          Come into the Lord’s presence with singing.
       •          Remember that God is the Lord of all things.
       •          Give the Lord thanks and praise even when we do not understand what is happening to us.
       •      Never doubt God’s goodness, for His love for us endures even when our love for Him waivers.