Psalm 100:

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

 

 

1   Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2  Worship the Lordwith gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3   Know that the Lordis God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4   Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5   For the Lordis good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 

Some thoughts from Drew Steele

How and Why do we Worship?

I wonder what comes to your mind when you think about HOW and WHY you worship God?
Psalm 100 is a wonderful passage to turn to to help bring clarity to these ideas.

Firstly our MOUTHS.
“Shout for joy” (v1), come with “joyful songs” (v2), bring “thanksgiving” (v4) and “praise” (v4). These
are just some of the ways we can worship our great God. Yes, it is good and right that we bring
songs to Him, but it’s not only through songs that we can use our words to praise Him. I wonder if
you could consider the words you’ve used over the last 24 hours - how have they displayed praise
to God? How do we train ourselves to use our words for His glory more readily?

Secondly, our ACTIONS.
“Come before him”, “Enter his gates” - these actions show an intention behind those who do them -
worshipping God is an active choice that we make, not something we accidentally find ourselves
doing. So how do we prepare ourselves to come, to enter, an environment of praise? How
intentionally do we prepare ourselves to praise Him?
There’s an interesting side-note here about the value of significant places of worship. It’s not that
you can’t worship God anytime, anywhere and with anyone (or no-one!) else, but perhaps you can
think of a physical location which holds a special significance for you and aided you in your worship
of God. What a gift it is that God gives us such created beauty to enjoy and inspire, as well as
experiences of Him in places where the space between heaven and earth seems thin. As we
recognise that God is not confined to particular spaces and places, how can we actively choose to
tune in to God wherever we find ourselves and display worship to Him through our whole life
(Romans 12:1)?

Finally, our MINDS.
Look at what we’re encouraged to “know” in v3 and v5, and make a note of those things. How is it
that we can KNOW these things, and how do we grow in our knowledge of them? Surely these
things fuel our worship of Him, so let’s seek to consider God’s goodness more. As we do, we will
be led to worship Him more and more!

Psalm 100 shows us wonderful Truth about HOW and WHY we worship God - we worship through
our MOUTHS and our ACTIONS (how) - and we worship Him because of who we know Him to be
with our MINDS (why).

Take time today to consider who God truly is, and allow that knowledge to fuel your worship of Him
through your words and actions in everything you do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drew is the Pastor at Gilnahirk Baptist Church in East Belfast. He’s married to Kat and they have a two year old son and 7 1/2 year old springer spaniel. Drew has been involved in ‘full-time’ youth and church ministry for over 10 years. He loves getting into the fresh air, enjoying a cup of good coffee or a gripping crime box sett