Psalm 100
Serve the Lord with Gladness / A Psalm of Thanksgiving
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 100 is in Book 4 of the Book of Psalms (Psalms 90-106). This is one of 50 Psalms whose author is anonymous. Some of the anonymous Psalms are attributed to Ezra but I have not found anything that would substantiate or deny a claim for his authorship. This is to be sung by God's people as they are on their way to worship Him. We are not to just burst in on God with no preparation in our hearts. He is Holy and we should respect Him as such always. This Psalm is very easy to understand for the young Christians on the 'milk of the word' but also very deep for the more mature Christians that can handle the 'meat of the word.'
According to my open bible timeline:
Book IV of the Psalms has an anonymous Chief Author with a possible compiler being Ezra or Nehemiah.
Basic content is an anthem of praise.
Topical likeness to Pentateuch is Numbers: Wilderness and Wandering.
Possible dates of compilation: until c. 430 B.C. The span of authorship for the book of Psalms is about 1000 years (c. 1410-430 B.C.)
This is a Psalm of Thanksgiving.
To a new Christian, this particular psalm reflects a spirit of gladness in coming before God's presence. We are to be thankful, praise Him, and bless his name for The Lord is good and merciful forever with His truth enduring to all generations. This Psalm lifts us up spiritually but also sends our witness out externally as we honor God, draw near to Him, really see Him as our creator and shepherd as we grow and learn the commands here. Just as there is a certain protocol to meet with earthly kings, so too is there a protocol to meet with the King of the Universe.
This is a very powerful Psalm, especially since it is only five verses long. As a christian matures, they may be shown there are four verses of exhortation with the last verse giving the reason for the exhortations. The five verses contain seven commands that I consider steps of protocol to enter into the presence of our holy God then the reason for the commands. God always meets His children where we are. If we don't know the proper respect, He will not turn us away but will fellowship with us. Proverbs 9:10 tells us the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Action words listed by the verses:
Verse 1 SHOUT joyfully
Verse 2 SERVE and COME before Him
Verse 3 KNOW
Verse 4 ENTER, GIVE THANKS, and BLESS
Verse 5 is the REASON we are given the previous commands.
As Christians, we represent our Savior Jesus to the world. If we walk around in life looking like Eyore in Winnie the Pooh – with his gloom and doom demeanor – would people see anything they want in our life that would encourage them to know our Lord? If we are joyful, and show that God is worth shouting about, people will be drawn to the joy we have in our relationship with our Savior!
We are to serve the Lord with gladness not because we have to but because we want to. God loves a cheerful giver and that includes being cheerful in our service to Him. Singing will bring us into His presence. He inhabits the praises of his people. When we sing praises to God there is a sweet aroma sent to Heaven.
We all go through high points and low points in life. We are God's children so we learn to know Him, trust Him and lean upon Him. His strength is perfect when our strength is gone so in our weakness we can rise above our circumstances. We will be consistent in our witness to the world but also be able to live with the peace of God calming us in a world in chaos. Thanksgiving in our hearts, which grows the more we know God, leads to greater worship as we enter into the presence of our one true King!
Verse 4 tells us to 'Praise His name.” The word praise means to kneel to show honor to God. True worship always involves falling at God's feet. In the presence and authority of God, the strength of his creation (man) will leave him and his spirit will naturally bring the body into a kneeling posture.
All of the above are a prelude to true worship. Wanting fellowship with our Lord, we enter into his courts with shouts, praise and singing, we bless his name, and our spirit opens fully to the majestic glory of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is no higher experience in this life than to be in the presence of the One True King experiencing heartfelt worship. We are covered in His goodness, love, and faithfulness. At the same time, we start to understand the name of God. In His presence, we recognize even deeper the holiness, greatness, wisdom, truthfulness and loving kindness that is His name!
Psalm 100:1 to Psalm 95:1
Psalm 95 is a call to worship the Lord. The importance of worshiping the Lord is expressed in both scriptures.
Psalm 100:3 ...it is he that hath made us...
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, …
The connection in the old testament Psalm of God being our creator is now complete as this new testament scripture gives us our identity with being created in Christ Jesus.
This psalm is among the most well-known psalms in the Bible. It is memorized by Christians and its basic structure has been placed into the opening line of one of the most well-known prayers taught to children, myself included: “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.”
This psalm is a hymn of praise. The poetry is so very beautiful and calls to our heart as we read it and sing it. The poetry elements appeal to songwriters from generation to generation. Many songs have been written from Psalm 100 alone! I myself can think of a couple right offhand. Here is one from my days as a brand new Christian.
I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
Knowing that the auditorium church only allows time for a prelude into worship, I know how deep worship is and that I desire and need this close fellowship with God. This will only be accomplished in my life as I spend time with Him, alone and not distracted by this world, to walk the steps of protocol into an audience with the King of the Universe. There is nothing in this world that could ever satisfy my heart and spirit than this communion at His feet in His glorious presence.
Maranatha,