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July 31, 2010
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The New American Standard version of the Bible has this at Psalm 100:1-3... Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.All the earth is exhorted to praise the Lord in this passage. When some think of praising and serving God they think of burdensome duty, of bleak unhappy service that wears one out and makes one frown. Not so, my friend! Praising God is a happy, uplifting business and those who do not find it so have somehow failed to grasp its true meaning. The Psalmist particularly mentions three aspects of our activities before God. First, shouting joyful praises to Him. Next, serving Him with gladness. Finally, coming before Him with joyful singing. No one of these, neither the praising nor the serving nor the coming before Him, is given as burdensome or dreary or sad. Why? The answer is in verse three. The answer is primarily found in knowing God, knowing His nature, that is, who He is. He is the Creator and we are His. We belong to Him by virtue of the fact He made us, we did not make ourselves. But more than being the Creator, He is now our Sustainer, our Benefactor. Some would have us believe that God created all things, set the universe in motion and that was the end of it. Not so! He continues to provide for us, to care for us as a shepherd does for the sheep of his pasture. Please consider one last thought before we close. When we really know God, when we strip away all worldliness from our view and consider Him in all His divinity, it becomes impossible to stifle our cries of admiration. When we come face to face with a true understanding of our Maker and Keeper our lips cannot help put spontaneously exclaim, "Praise the Lord!" The joy cannot be suppressed any more than it can when we stand atop a Tennessee ridge and contemplate a valley resplendent with fall's colors or when our souls are moved to unexplainable joy at the sound of a beautiful melody or the sight of a newborn baby. God's majesty and purity and love demand a response. To know that the Lord Himself is God is to bring forth words of praise, a desire to serve Him and a longing to come before Him. To truly know the Savior is to know joy and gladness. |
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