The last couple of years have perhaps made it difficult for some of us to maintain a life of gratitude. After a global pandemic, a contentious election season, and many riots, being grateful may not come easy. However, even amid difficult times, Christians can remain genuinely grateful about much.
Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving. It calls us to have genuine gratitude for the Lord and to praise Him. There are two calls to praise found in verses 1–2 and 4: “Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. . . . Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (Version?) The Psalmist paints a picture of the pure and uninhibited joy that should characterize the life of God’s people. Our joy and gladness in the Lord should lead to service, singing, and praise for him.
Despite the explicit call to praise God, the darkness of our age may blind us to the many reasons we have to praise the Lord. But Psalm 100 gives us two simple reasons why God’s people can praise God and be grateful at all times.
We praise God for who He has made us to be.
Verse 3 says, “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” This verse reminds us that the Lord YHWH, the one true God of Israel, has created us for a purpose. Since God is the Creator, and we are His creation, we are accountable to Him and owe Him our complete devotion. As God’s creatures, we are wired to worship our Creator. That is what God intends for us. We were made to be devoted to Him and to live for Him in every way.
This Psalm reminds us of our need to acknowledge the fact that we belong to God and that He loves us. When we wrap our minds around this truth, we can see that God is not only the God of creation but also the God of salvation. He made humans and the entire world, and yet He has chosen to redeem humanity even though they have rejected Him.
Psalm 100:3 also compares us to sheep that belong to God. The point here is that if we are sheep, we need a shepherd. A shepherd moves His sheep from pasture to pasture. He makes sure that they are in a safe place. Most importantly, He protects the sheep. Sheep cannot protect themselves. That is why we need a watchful shepherd. When we let God watch over us, we have the best shepherd looking out for us. We would be wise to recognize that we are like sheep and that we need God to shepherd us. We need to follow His commands because He is leading us to safety. He is protecting us from the evil one.
So, why should we be grateful and praise God with the unhindered joy and gladness as Psalm 100:1–2 suggest? Because YHWH is the one true God, He has created us, and He is our shepherd.
Praise God for who He is.
The next reason this Psalm tells us we can be grateful at all times and praise God is because of who He is. Verse 5 says, “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”
To say that God is “good” seems like such a basic thing to say. It does not seem all that significant because we use the word good so much in our own culture. As a result, we can easily look over the weight and significance of this statement if we are not careful. God’s goodness is an essential attribute of who He is. He never ceases to be good. And if you are one of His sheep, you can trust that both the good and bad things in this life are designed ultimately for your eternal good (Rom. 8:28).
God gives us undeserved favors. He is merciful toward us. Even though we all deserve to be punished for our sin, His mercy toward us makes it possible for us to be saved. He is compassionate. He is our father and He is a loving father who cares deeply about His children. And as Psalm 34:8 says, those who take refuge in Him will taste and see that He is good.
It is helpful to consider all the reasons that the original singers of this Psalm could have sung out with wholehearted praise and gratitude for the Lord’s goodness. Just consider all that the Lord had done for them as a people throughout the Old Testament.
Early in the book of Genesis, God promised Abraham that He would be the father of a great nation. Despite the fact that Abraham and Sarah were both beyond the normal age range for having children, God kept His promise to Abraham by giving him Isaac, and just a few generations later used Isaac to form the nation of Israel.
This nation did not have a ruler for 400 years, but when they were in captivity, they cried out to God. God heard their cries, and He led them out of Egypt through Moses. He took them across the Red Sea on dry ground as they were being chased by an army of chariots. When they got to the other side, God literally provided for them bread from heaven.
God guided them throughout he wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Then He gave them His law. But the people were so stubborn that they refused to obey God, and instead they made a golden calf to worship as their God.
Through all of this rejection, how does God respond to them? Nehemiah 9:17 says, “They refused to obey, and they were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion, they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them.”
One would think that God’s mercy toward them would cause them to see their wrong ways and repent. For a time, that was the case. An entire generation was forbidden from entering the promised land, but a new generation would enter on a clean slate. However, it would not be long before they again turned away from Him. Nehemiah 9:30–31 says, “Yet for many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless in Your great mercy you did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful.”
Like Psalm 100:5 said, “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”
Many years later, God sent His son Jesus Christ to another faithless generation, and through Christ, God’s faithful love continues even to us today. During His earthly ministry, Jesus travelled from village to village healing people and teaching them about the coming kingdom. At one point, He stopped to look at the multitudes, and Matthew 9:36 says, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”
Conclusion
Jesus is the good shepherd. No matter how difficult life gets, Christians can praise God and be grateful because we are His sheep and He is the good shepherd. When we turn on the news and see all that is going against us as Christians, we can rest assured that the good shepherd is watching over us. Jesus is the good shepherd, and “the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
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