Today’s Reading: Psalm 96, 100, & 101
The
key idea in Psalm 100 is that praising the Lord does not pertain to one nation
only. Praising God should not be confined to only the Hebrew people. There
are proper grounds of praise for “all the earth.” David exhorts everyone,
everywhere, in all lands, in all nations, of all languages and ethnicities to
unite together in making a joyful noise unto the Lord. The basis of this
unified praise is that all of humanity has one Creator – He is God and it is He
who made us all. Because there is one God and Father of all, the human race can
unite as one great family on earth and make a joyful noise together.
Know that the LORD is God. The word “know” in this verse comes
from a Hebrew root word which means, “to acknowledge the truth.” It
is vital that our hearts are firmly established in the truth that Yahweh is our Creator. There is no other god. There is no other creator. There is no other
means by which our world came into existence than by the creative work of God. "The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof; and all
they that dwell therein" (Psalms 24:1). It is He who made
us, therefore we must look to Him as the Benefactor and Giver of all life. Make
a joyful noise to Him!
We are His. Oh, what joy it brings to know that our Maker claims
us as His own. In spite of humanity’s rebellion against Him and our persistent
denial of His laws and His ways, He has never – and will never – deny those who come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We
belong to Him. He made us and gave us a fabulous living environment because He
loves us. Then, because He loved us so much, He sent His Only Begotten Son to
die for us and redeem us from the hands of Satan who tried to take us out of
His hands. But we are Yahweh’s people. He made us, He bought us, He held on to
us, we are His. Make a joyful noise to Him!
We are the sheep of His pasture. We have been blessed to
be under the care of the Good Shepherd. As His sheep, we’re breathing God's air. We’re drinking God's water. We’re
eating God's food. We’re burning God's oil. We’re heating our homes with God's
gas. We’re eating God's cattle, God's fish, God’s grain and God’s produce.
"The earth is the Lord's." We are actually just grazing in His field.
Everything that we have, everything that we see, everything that we're
surrounded with belongs to our good God. As His sheep, our lives have purpose,
provision, protection, and direction. Make a joyful noise to Him!
The only reasonable
conclusions we can draw from God’s amazing Lordship over our world and over our
lives is that all the people of the earth should: “Serve Him with gladness”
(V2); “Come
into His presence with singing!” (V2); “Enter His gates with thanksgiving”
(V4); “Give thanks to Him” (V4); and “Bless His name!” (V4).
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