Psalm 100

Psalm 100

A Heart of Thanksgiving

1. A thankful heart is a joyful heart, so we must be thankful for what God does (Vv. 1-3)

1. We probably all have our ideas of what we should be thankful for and how and where we should express our thanksgiving, but in this psalm God gives us specific instructions for how we should express thanks and why should express it. The psalm contains seven imperatives which relate God’s commands for proper thanksgiving, praise, and worship of Him. Four of them are contained in the first three verses, beginning with a call for “all the earth” to “shout joyfully to the Lord”. This isn’t a call for mindless shouting, but describes the overwhelming feeling of exuberance and praise which was characteristic of a crowd cheering loudly for a returning and triumph king. Next God calls us to serve Him with “gladness”. Serving God is a true act of worship, either through gladly drawing near to Him in worship as the most important aspect of our lives, or through gladly loving and serving our neighbor as ourselves. The third imperative is to “come before Him with joyful singing”. This is a call to cease doing what we’re doing, and going where we’re going, and come together in God’s presence to offer thanksgiving to Him through joyful singing. When we can’t find the time to come into His presence, nor the joy to sing thankfully to Him, it means that we’re not considering Him and the praise and thanksgiving which He alone is entitled to, we’re thinking of ourselves and what we wrongly believe we’re entitled to. That is why the fourth imperative is a command to “know that the Lord Himself is God”. To “know” in this context means “to know by experience”. If He’s God, that means we’re not! He alone is God. He alone is the One who spoke all things into existence out of nothing, including us. He alone is sovereign and in control of all things. He alone is worthy of all worship, praise, and thanksgiving at all times. He alone has sustained us in our sin so that He alone might redeem us to Himself. And He alone is the One who still provides us with all we need for our greatest good at all times. Apart from thankfully understanding that it is God alone who has done and continues to do all these things, we’ll wrongly assign these actions to ourselves. We’ll see all things which happen as a consequence of either what we do or what is done to us, and our heart attitude will be one of entitlement and apathy. We must come to continually know who God is, see that all that happens is the result of His sovereign hand, and worship Him with thankful hearts. Then we’ll see that the only thing which we’re really entitled to in life is the fruits of our sinful rebellion which results in His just judgment; however God has mercifully not given us that which we’re entitled to, and graciously given us that to which we’re not entitled, eternal life in Christ. (Vv. 1-3; Deut. 10:12-21; Josh. 24:14-15; Ps. 23; Matt. 22:36-40; 25:35-45; John 1:12-13; 10:11-12, 14-16; Rom. 5:6-11; 10:13; 11:33-12:2; Phil. 2:3-8; Heb. 13:15; Jas. 1:27; 1 Pet. 2:9-10)

2. A thankful heart is a joyful heart, so we must be thankful for who God is (Vv. 4-5)

1. “Enter His gates”, “Give thanks to Him”, and “bless His Name” work together to call all people to assemble together in worship, praise, and thanksgiving of God. We’re called to praise Him, not only for what He has done, but also for who He is. God must be the point of gathering, the object of our worship, and the focus of our thanks and praise, because “the Lord is good”! We often exclaim that God is good, but the focus of our lives don’t support our proclamation. The honest expectation of God’s goodness is most often attached to what we consider to be positive circumstances in our lives. Just as in the garden, Satan desires to induce us to question God’s goodness. If we questions God’s goodness, we won’t trust Him, obey Him, or be thankful towards Him. We’ll follow our own desires, and forfeit our ability to see and experience His great, unchanging, and unending lovingkindness and faithfulness. Properly understanding who God is requires seeking Him through His Word, a personal relationship with Christ, and being built up together in the body of Christ. God does what He does because of who He is. He proved both His great goodness and great love for us by sending Christ to provide us with His righteousness which we can never earn. When we continually seek Him and reflect thankfully on who He is and what He does, we’ll see the reality of His goodness, blessing, and provision in all circumstances, especially those which are most negative, and can rejoice thankfully at all times. A thankful heart is a joyful heart! (Vv. 4-5; Gen. 1:31; 50:20; Exod. 34:5-7; Deut. 30:15-16; Ps. 25:8; 34:8; 85:12-13; 90:1-2; 106:1; 107:1; 119:65-72, 75-76; Matt. 28:20; Luke 18:19; John 3:16; Rom. 1:18-32; 3:10-12; 8:28-39; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Thess. 5:16-18; Heb. 13:5, 8; 1 John 4:8-10, 16, 19)