Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100 is often used as a part of worship services around the Thanksgiving holiday. In the heat of summer, it’s hard to remember the cool of fall, but that’s O.K. Taking time to be thankful should be more than a once a year habit for Christians. What do you have to be thankful for today?
Reflect
From Ed Stetzer, on The Exchange, a blog from Christianity Today.
One of the first chapters of scripture I memorized was Psalm 100. It was actually easy to memorize because it was put in the form of a song. It started, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye, all ye lands.”
This psalm reminds me of the importance of thanksgiving… I find, however, that thanksgiving is one of the first things to be smothered when life deals us hard blows and the world seems to be crumbling around us. Our prayers, if they exist during times like these, take the form of pleas instead of praise. We lose sight of God’s goodness in the midst of the dark.
But the Psalmist’s words were a call to shout triumphantly because they were not fighting for victory, but they were fighting from victory. The same is true today.
It may not seem like it, but the Lord has won the battle. Our battles. We put on His armor and follow Him into the hard places. Yes, when we’re in the midst of uncertainty, it may not seem as though God has won, but scripture reminds us over and over again that He has. That’s a promise we cling to.
So what do we do with this knowledge? We are called to serve the Lord with gladness, to come before Him with joyful songs. We do so because God has made us new in Christ. He has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. The Psalmist acknowledges in verse 3 that Yes, He is God, He has made us, we are His people, the sheep of His pasture!
All thanksgivings flows from verse 3. We know who God is and how He approaches us and who we are in Him.
To read the rest of this devotional, go to https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/november/psalm-100-call-to-give-thanks.html
Respond
What does it mean for you personally to fight from victory not for victory? How can you rejoice in the victory that you have in Jesus today?
Now that you’ve read Psalm 100 every day this week, you’re probably on your way to having it memorized! Spend some time reading and reflecting on it again today. Commit it to memory so that you are reminded to always worship the Lord with gladness!