Make a joyful noise
to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with
gladness!
Come into his
presence with singing!
Three straightforward commands: Praise! Serve! Worship!
The first one implies a godly attitude toward Jehovah. It might be helpful to think about what
will therefore not be present in our
lives, when they are filled with joyful praise: ingratitude, bitterness, anger,
unhappiness, strife, complaining, and quarreling, which cannot coexist with
praise.
‘Serve’ is an action! Faithful serving is the result of
careful planning; it requires being attentive to needs and it implies
sacrifice. Our service will always be weak if we do not keep in mind that we
are serving our Lord, and not people. The needs of people will be met, but our
focus point needs to be Christ! When people are our focus point, we will soon
be disappointed by their lack of reciprocation and gratitude.
‘Worship’ is a way of life, not an event. We too often tend to look at worship
as a church event, in which we can participate or be spectators. The music
and/or the environment become our focal point. Reality is that we continually live
in the presence of God, and we should continually have an attitude of praise
toward the Lord because of who He is and what He does in our lives. Corporate
worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ ought to simply be a public
expression of our daily devotion to the Lord!
As we rehearse these
commands, we realize that all too often we fail to obey them from day to day. And
that is the reason the psalmist invites us to focus on our relationship with
God.
Psalm 100:3
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.
These are things we
must know: The Jehovah is God! God made us! We are His people! We are His
sheep!
Jehovah is the creator, the One who controls and sustains
the world.
He is perfectly aware of all, completely wise in His assessments, totally in
control of all, and lovingly providential towards His creation.
God has created each
person; He is intimately aware of all needs, He knows exactly what each person
can bear, and what everyone is going through. He does not need to study us to
find out: He made us!
We are His, not someone else’s! We are His property; our wise God
will always deal with great care for His own.
We are His people; we
are part of a community. We represent Him because we are part of His own. Scriptures
remind us so often of our privileged position, to have become children of God.
God saw us when we
were sheep without a shepherd and had compassion on us. He is committed as the Good
Shepherd to care for us, to protect us, and to lead us.
Careful reflection on
these truths cannot leave us indifferent! We must show a visible response to
His kindness!
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with
thanksgiving,
and his courts with
praise!
Give thanks to him;
bless his name!
Gratitude and praise are the only acceptable responses to
God. Thankfulness
and honor should be springing from our lips continually. People around us
should be very aware of our dependence on, and satisfaction with, what the Lord
is doing in our lives.
Yet there are times
when we are going through trials and difficulties, that we may be tempted to
question the character of God and the motives that drive His dealings with us.
Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love
endures forever,
and his faithfulness
to all generations.
The psalmist reminds
us that God is good – perfectly loving – faithful forever.
God is holy; there is no hint of evil in His motives or
actions.
All that happens to us comes only through His perfect and loving plans for our
lives. Bad things can happen to us, but God intends them to produce that which
is good in our lives.
God’s perfect love will endure forever. God does not love us in exchange for our
behavior or ability to love Him back. He set His love upon us in eternity past,
when we could not offer anything to Him. In fact, He loved us in spite of the
fact that He knew we would rebel and offend Him with everything in our lives.
His perfect love cannot be deterred by our actions!
God will not change. He will be faithful to His character
and to every promise He has made. Our faithfulness does not drive God, for He
is faithful to Himself.
Our service, praise
and worship are dependent upon knowing our God, remembering what He has done,
and resting in His unchanging character.
So, now, go out and
live in light of these truths!
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