McKay Vandenberg: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. We are continuing in our daily Psalms reading, and we have made it to Psalm 100. It's been a long road, but we've made it.
Today, the Psalm says, shout with joy to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. Go into his course with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. I had two thoughts really reflecting on this rather short psalm. The first one is we are the people, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Now I know calling someone a sheep can elicit a lot of different responses. I find plenty of comfort in being one of God's sheep because I don't know if you've watched any videos about them.
They're pretty mindless, but they live a pretty easy life. Just kind of cruising around the pasture, eating some grass, taking some naps. They occasionally get stuck in a hole and someone's gonna come save them. They don't really have to worry about a lot of things. And to me, that sounds like a pretty easy life.
I like the comfort of knowing that my good shepherd is watching out for me despite all of the crazy, sometimes mindless things I can do in my life. So if you need a break, if you need to rest from the busyness of life, know that God sees you as one of his sheep and you can just relax, chew on some grass, let the shepherd take care of you today. But in a more serious note, in verse four it says, enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. And this verse reminded me of summer camp here at Sandals Church. I've served for several years.
I always lead a group. It is a great experience for our students. And one of the most beautiful parts about summer camp is when we're going into our times of worship and message, we hold the students kind of in the field just in preparation as we get things dialed and get the sound all ready to go. And when we open those doors, open those gates for them to come into their seats and start worship, it's it's met with this like electrifying energy of students that run to their seats, run to the front of the stage and are eager and excited to worship. And I think that's a beautiful picture of what it's gonna be like when we finally get to meet God, meet Jesus in heaven.
It's gonna be this time of praise and thanksgiving that's exciting. It doesn't feel like a chore. It doesn't feel like a tiring day at the end of our week, but it's something that is refreshing and rejuvenating to us today. Now it's easy to think about that and wait for that in heaven, but God calls us and offers us to us every day to approach him with thanksgiving, approach him with praise. I am a cynical person, so I can tend to be on the more negative side of things, but God's word reminds me today that in that cynicism, can still approach God with thanksgiving.
I can still approach God with praise, and ultimately allow that to influence, change my cynicism into hope and love and optimism for all of those around me and in my sphere of influence. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, sometimes small Psalms like this are all that we need to be encouraged and blessed in our day Lord. I know this Psalm has blessed me as I go about my day navigating the tiredness that I experienced, but still wanting to approach your glorious throne with thanksgiving and praise. God, as we continue to navigate the daily life of following you and what that means for us, Remind all of us, close to you and far from you that that you are good, that you are loving, and that you are just.
Help us to offer our praise to you today in ways that are beautiful to you. God, we thank you for everything that you have done in our lives and are continuing to do and we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.