A Perfect Little Psalm ｜ Psalm 100
I decided to read one psalm per day for my devotion at the beginning of 2022, and by the sheer grace of God, I landed at Psalm 100 several days ago. Frankly, I found the idea of 150 days of Psalms (the no. of psalms in Psalm) quite daunting, since in my mind, many psalms are similar, so I worry that it would be repetitive and dry. But I could not be more wrong. Morning after morning, God showed me something new, regardless of how similar the Psalms may be.
Psalm 100 is a perfect example. It is a very short psalm, with only five verses, and it sounds like many other psalms. But in this little psalm is everything we need, so we will know how we ought to walk with God. It talks about who God is, who we are, how we should live, and what we should do, all in the span of 5 verses!
Here is Psalm 100 (NASB):
It's only five verses, but it is full of information. First, it tells us what we should do as God's people. We are to shout joyfully (all the earth!), we are to serve the Lord, come before Him, and know that we did not make ourselves, but God did. We are to enter His gate and courtyard, give thanks to Him and bless His name!
But more importantly, it tells us who God is, and by inference, who we are. Our God is a good God. He is the one who made us, and hence the one who will watch over and guide us. His mercy is everlasting; His faithfulness is to all generations.
We, on the other hand, are His creatures, His sheep, His people. We are His! We belong to a good God who will never abandon His creation. The recognition of this wonderful relationship we have with God is precisely why we can be thankful, why we are to celebrate, and why we are to serve Him with jubilation and rejoicing! We can approach Him with fitting awe because He is our Creator and Lord, but we can also find comfort and rest knowing that since our God is merciful and faithful, we can trust in His goodness, mercy, and faithfulness, because He cares for us.
Isn't that something so wonderful and worthy of celebration? Yet my feeling is that we are probably not celebrating enough! We are much more likely to complain, grumble, and wrestle with God, focusing on what we still need, everything we think is missing. Yet the picture painted here is one of contentment, thankfulness, and joyful celebration, because we know that our God is indeed a good God.
May this be a reminder to celebrate God with this mindset today.
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Nobody is immune to stumbling in our spiritual journey. Even Peter the apostle denied Jesus three times shortly before the death of his beloved Lord and mentor. Yet in Luke 22, we see how Jesus made provisions for Peter to ensure that although he may stumble, he would not fall. May this passage be an encouragement to us this Easter.