Put some Action into it!

Psalm 100 is designed to prepare hearts for worship, so let's ready ourselves and read this short psalm together.  First, let us process what jumps off the page!  Since you are reading this through my eyes, that is where we begin - through my eyes.

According to grammar rules, a verb is one of the main parts of a sentence or question in English. In fact, you can’t have a sentence or a question without a verb!  The verb signals an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. Whether mental, physical, or mechanical, verbs always express activity. 

I read this psalm and then asked myself what seems significant?  Which words appeared as bold when looking back over the verses? Below you will notice these words in bold print: shout, worship, know, enter, give thanks.

No matter what is on your heart each morning as you set aside your time with God, put some action into it, add some liveliness into the moment. If not outloud, then inside your spirit. If the children are still asleep and you are treasuring your time, shout on the inside.  If you are sitting at your desk at work, waiting for the day to begin, you can still worship with gusto, just on the inside. 

It will show on the outside. Your day will be different, your demeanor softer, your countenance beaming. Your family and your co-workers will notice something is different, something is new. You have entered His gate; you have crossed over into His world which gave us our salvation. 

Shout for joy to the Lord

Worship the Lord with gladness;

Know that the Lord is God.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

  

Psalm 100

What if?

What if …

What if there were a God, a good God, a God of love, this good and loving God also holding all power?

What if there were a God, an unseen Spirit whose mansion was the heavens and whose home was our hearts?

What if there were a God who spoke clear words of eternal truth, words reliable amid temptation and deception, words of comfort and assurance in times of trouble?

What if there were a God in whom was life as it should be, peace amid the world as it is?

What if …

What if there were a God who knew everything about us, yet loved us more
– and more purely – than we love ourselves?

What if there were a God who longed for our wills to cease striving and our hearts to start trusting?

What if there were a God before whom we could be completely honest about our deepest darkness and somehow experience great relief in having done so?

What if there were a God who not only answered our prayers, but delighted in surprising us with blessings for which we never even thought to ask?

What if …

What if there were a God who united with himself all who were willing, and bonded them one to another, as well?

What if there were a God who worked through us, each one as he fashioned us to be, all for good in the world around us?

What if there were a God who loved those we love – and cared for them – even more than we do?

What if there were a God who could take all our hurts and somehow turn them to good as we, in turn, helped others suffering the same?

There is, you know.  There truly is.

       Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
              Worship the Lord with gladness;
              come before him with joyful songs.

       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.
       Enter his gates with thanksgiving
              and his courts with praise;
              give thanks to him and praise his name.
       For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
              his faithfulness continues through all generations.  Psalm 100

So beyond happiness ...

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth." Psalm 100:1

I knew a man who went through seminary and became a pastor, yet did not know Jesus Christ. One day as he was preparing his sermon, the Scripture text spoke life and truth into the deepest part of his soul and, all alone in his study, he shouted out, "Jesus, you're real!" Over his remaining years, that conviction grew ever deeper, as did his joy, and this man unabashedly spoke of his love for Jesus more than anyone I've ever known.

Joy and peace are joined at the hip. I think of joy as the delight and wonderment that accompany the peace and assurance we find in God's truth. Sometimes, it bubbles over, uncontained in outward expression. More often, it is a quiet confidence, an inner gladness, a complete contentment that fills us regardless of our situation.

In Psalm 100, David meditated on these simple truths: The Lord is God ... God made us ... we belong to him ... God provides for us and protects us ... we are invited into his presence ... God is good ... and God is faithful. In these assurances, David was effusive in gladness and delight: "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!"

Take time to breathe in these truths that speak peace, this peace that brings joy. They are life for the soul.

Happiness packs its bags when times get tough, but joy is a faithful companion even in our suffering. For joy is not rooted in our circumstances that change but in our God who does not.

"Jesus, you're real!" Amen, brother. 

Such peace. What joy!