June 2024 - Psalm 100

A short but well-loved Psalm calls on all men to praise, worship and serve God for two main reasons:

1. He is God

2. He is Good

He is God – Verses 1-3

It is important that we give God His rightful place. This should always be before us as we worship and serve Him day by day.

Isaiah 45:5 clearly states that even if people do not acknowledge this, it does not alter the reality that He is God. “I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else...”

He is the Creator God. “He has made us”. Without Him we would not exist. If we really grasped this truth, it would give fresh drive to our worship and service for Him. He is the Sustainer God. He protects us, and He provides for us. As “His people” we are not our own. 1 Corinthians 6:20 would remind us “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” We have been redeemed at great cost, the precious blood of God’s own Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

He also leads us and feeds us as “we are the sheep of His pasture”. As sheep we often go astray and need His guidance, and we are sustained by feeding on His word.

He is Good – Verses 4-5

There is no limit or end to His mercy. We have a God whose love is infinite and eternal. “His lovingkindness is everlasting”. He is also faithful and true. Jesus Christ is identified in Revelation 19 as the one who is “faithful and true”. Our God can be relied upon as “His truth endureth”. Because we have a creator God who sustains, has infinite mercy, and is faithful and true, it should not be arduous for us to praise and serve Him.

We are instructed to “serve the Lord with gladness”, and “come before His presence with singing” (verse 2), and “enter His gates with thanksgiving”, and “enter into His courts with praise”! Note how close we are to our God! We have entered through His gates and into His courts! We have been “brought nigh by the precious blood of Christ” before the God of the universe whose love is unfailing and everlasting. Let’s lift up our praise to Him as we serve Him here on earth.