A Call for Praise to the Lord

Psalm 100 is a call for all men to praise the Lord. It also reminds us of the reasons we are to praise Him and what our attitude should be in our praise.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.

There are four points in this psalm that relate to our praise to God.

We must understand who God is – Why praise the Lord and not some other god? Idolatry was all around the Jewish people when this psalm was written. Even today in our culture, idolatry exists in different forms. So why praise the Lord and not any other god? “It is He who has made us” (Psalm 100:3). He is the Creator and the only true and living God (cf. Genesis 1:1; Ephesians 4:6).

We must understand who we are – When we recognize who God is (the Creator), we are forced to recognize who we are (the creation). “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). All that we are (1 Corinthians 15:10) and all that we have (James 1:17) comes by the grace of God and what He has provided for us.

We must remember what He has done – The psalmist reminds us of God’s goodness, lovingkindness, and faithfulness that endure forever (Psalm 100:5). Through His providence, He has given every physical blessing we need (James 1:17; Acts 14:15,17). Through His Son, He has provided for us the hope of eternal life (Romans 6:23).

We must recognize the privilege that it is to serve God – Notice the terms the psalmist uses in regard to our praise to God: joyfully, gladness, joyful, thanksgiving. We should not approach our praise, worship, or service to God as a grudging obligation. We must realize the great privilege we have to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). We were separated from God because of our sins (Isaiah 59:2) and unable to remedy that situation on our own (Romans 5:6); but God has given us the chance to be “reconciled to [Him] through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10).

Understanding these things, let us “shout joyfully to the Lord… serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing… Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.


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