Joyful (Ps. 100:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2012 6:58:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 100



Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 100:1-2



            Message of the verses:  In today’s Spiritual Diary we will begin to look at Psalm 100 by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators, and then we will begin to look at the psalm.



            “-This song of praise should be considered as a prophecy, and even used as a prayer, for the coming of that time when all people shall know that the Lord he is God, and shall become his worshippers, and the sheep of his pasture. Great encouragement is given us, in worshipping God, to do it cheerfully. If, when we strayed like wandering sheep, he has brought us again to his fold, we have indeed abundant cause to bless his name. The matter of praise, and the motives to it, are very important. Know ye what God is in himself, and what he is to you. Know it; consider and apply it, then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious, in his worship. The covenant of grace set down in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, with so many rich promises, to strengthen the faith of every weak believer, makes the matter of God’s praise and of his people’s joys so sure, that how sad so ever our spirits may be when we look to ourselves, yet we shall have reason to praise the Lord when we look to his goodness and mercy, and to what he has said in his word for our comfort.”  (Matthew Henry)



            “TITLE. A Psalm of Praise; or rather of thanksgiving. This is the only psalm bearing this precise inscription. It is all ablaze with grateful adoration, and has for this reason been a great favourite with the people of God ever since it was written. "Let us sing the Old Hundredth" is one of the every-day expressions of the Christian church, and will be so while men, exist whose hearts are loyal to the Great King. Nothing can be more sublime this side heaven than the singing of this noble psalm by a vast congregation. Watts’ paraphrase, beginning "Before Jehovah’s awful throne," and the Scotch "All people that on earth do dwell," are both noble versions; and event Tare and Brady rise beyond themselves when they sing —



"With one consent let all the earth

To God their cheerful voices raise."



In this divine lyric we sing with gladness the creating power and goodness of the Lord, even as before with trembling we adored his holiness.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)



            “This well-known psalm, emphasizing the universal nature of God’s kingship, is a benediction to the series of psalm which are occupied with the Lord’s kingdom rule (Pss. 93, 95-100).  Most of it is a call to praise and thanksgiving while vv. 3 and 5 fi the reasons for that worship.”  (John MacArthur Study Bible)



            “For centuries, Christian congregations have sung William Kethe’s paraphrase of this psalm, wedded to the beloved tune ‘Old Hundredth.’ First published in 1561, the words summarize the message of the psalm and help the worshipers give thanks to the Lord.  Sometimes the traditional ‘Doxology’ (‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow’) by Thomas Ken is sung as the last verse.  The psalm is a fitting climax to the collection of ‘royal psalms’ (93, 95-100) and sums up their emphasis on God’s sovereign rule, His goodness to His people, the responsibility of all nations to acknowledge Him, and the importance of God people exalting and worshiping Him (See 95:1-2, 6-7.)

            “We admonished in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit of God, and the evidence of this fullness is that we are joyful (5:19), thankful (5:20), and submissive (5:21-6:9).  In Colossians 3:16-25, we are instructed to be filled with the Word of God, and when we are, we will be joyful (3:16), thankful (3:17), and submissive (3:20-25).  These three characteristics of the believer controlled by God’s Spirit and God’s Word—and they go together—are presented in this wonderful psalm of thanksgiving.”  (Warren Wiersbe)



            Joyful (vv. 1-2):  “1 A Psalm for Thanksgiving.» Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.”

            We have been going over what Warren Wiersbe calls the “Royal Psalms” which as noted above in different places are Psalms 93, 95-100.  We worship God as King in these psalms and the psalms were not only written for the children of Israel, but for all of the nations, for indeed God is King over all the earth.  It was part of Israel’s job in knowing the One True God to tell other nations about Him, but the sad fact is that this did not get done very well, and not only did it not get done very well, but many of the Jews actually had a hatred for the Gentiles.  Of course this was not right, and when the Lord Jesus came to earth He spoke to different peoples like the woman at the well who was a Samaritan, and He also went to speak to a woman who had a child who was demon possessed in Mark 7 and then healed other Gentiles there too.  My point in all of this is that this psalm and the others mentioned is directed to all of the nations that they might worship the Lord and understand that He is King.  Today the Church has this responsibility to go and preach the Gospel to all the earth which is the “Great Commission,” that Jesus spoke of at the end of Matthews Gospel.

            As we look at the first two verses of this psalm we see that the psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving and that we are to shout joyfully to the Lord, all of the nations are to do this, and will do this in Christ’s kingdom one day.  We are to serve the Lord and be glad we can serve Him, for this is a great privilege.  Dr. Wiersbe writes about our shouting to the Lord, “our shouting ought to lead to serving Him, for He is the only true God (Deut. 6:13; 10:12; Josh. 24:15-24).  Worship leads to service, and true service is worship.  If we sing in the Spirit and with understanding, our songs are received in heaven as sacrifices to the Lord (Heb. 13:15).”  “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that my worship of the Lord when it comes to shouting does not happen a lot because I am more of a laid back kind of person, and my worship of the Lord does come with singing, for I love the wonderful old hymns, and love to sing them because of their great meaning.  My worship of the Lord is also in doing my Spiritual Diaries as I love to study the Word of God.



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to abide in the vine as Jesus spoke of in John 15.



Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-3 

1.      Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a fait of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; 3. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and excellence.

6/29/2012 8:49:17 AM