By all measures Christians ought to be thankful. Psalm 100 tells us how to be thankful, and it tells us why we are to be thankful to begin with.
Psalm 100:1-5 says:
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth.
Serve Yahweh with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that Yahweh, He 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 Yahweh is good;
His lovingkindness endures forever
And His faithfulness, generation unto generation.
— Psalm 100:1-5 (LSB)
Immediately we can see that the Psalm tells us to whom we are to be thankful— “Make a loud shout to Yahweh.” The word in many translations is Lord, yet, specifically, it is the covenantal name of the Lord; it is Yahweh. It is communicating that there is only one to whom this thanks is to be directed, and that person is God—four times in these five short verses. But the Psalmist continues and addresses where we are as His people, and whose we are positionally—we are in His pasture and we are His people. I hope you can see that the psalmist is providing a model of worship. He is communicating how we are to worship, saying that the evidence of true worship is joy. And that the key evidence of true joy is thanksgiving.
Do you see the many commands in these five verses, “Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth.” There’s a loudness that’s implied there, an excitement, an exuberance to the Lord. “Serve Yahweh with gladness.” Not with sourness, but with joy. “Come before Him with joyful songs.” That’s a picture of worship, coming before God and ascribing to Him the glory that is His. Finally, the psalmist says, “Know, that Yahweh is God.” We really need to understand the picture, that God is God; only He is God. Yahweh is God! He is sovereign over all. He is the one who deserves all of the glory.
Four commands and then the Psalmist tells us why we are to have that attitude, and why it is to be directed toward Yahweh alone; “It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves.” It’s quite humbling, and it’s good for us to remember that God has made us. God has made each and every one of us, and everything that we have has been given to us by Him. As the song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands,” and He has made the whole world. The one who makes us, the one who created the whole world is Yahweh. It is He who makes the rules, and it is He who gets all the glory.
“It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Those are such rich words. We do well to remember that God has made us to be the sheep of His pasture. God has ownership over what He has made—God has ownership over us. The place where we reside is in Him. The place where we reside is in His pasture, and in life with Him. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. But what is His pasture?
Can’t you just hear Psalm 23 pulsing through that verse?
His pasture is where green grass is provided for us. His pasture is where we have calm waters that are abundant and clean. His pasture is where He guides us in paths of righteousness. His pasture is where there is no fear. His pasture is where we have confidence in Him. His pasture is where are we are secure. His pasture is where we are protected. His pasture is where He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. His pasture is where He anoints our head with oil. He takes care of us. He nurtures us. His pasture is where our cups are running over. His pasture is where His grace and mercy pursue us all the way into the House of the Lord forever. He guides us in paths of righteousness to the foot of the Throne.
The pasture is simply a relationship with God—being In Christ!
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. We have been chosen to hear the Shepherds’ call. And we are asked to respond and to become dependent upon Jesus. Do you understand the incredible blessing that has been extended to us? There are many other pastures presented in this world but they are not good pastures. There is one true pasture and that’s being in a relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, the amazing blessing that God has extended to us through the gift of Christ?
The entire darkness of sin has impeded us from having a good, right, and forever relationship with God. But because He has sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, we may celebrate; we celebrate the blood that flowed in order that our sins might not just be covered, but that our sins might be taken away, that we might have an eternal relationship with God through this work of Jesus Christ.
We are a privileged people.
“Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth. Serve Yahweh with gladness; Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that Yahweh, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Church, we have it made. We have cars in our driveway, we have food in our refrigerators. We have homes, we have warm homes, we have clothes, we have family, we have friends, we have health. Most of all, we have a relationship with God, and we dwell in the shadow of the Most High in His pasture with the promise of eternity. We enjoy “every spiritual blessing” in Christ!
Verses 4-5 sum up our response to such grace. Thanksgiving. Praise. And blessing—for He is good. His loving kindness, His mercy and faithfulness will endure forward; they are a constant of His nature.
No believer should come into the halls of Yahweh cold and unresponsive, passive and indifferent. Rather, as the sheep of His pasture, we come into the House of Yahweh, and we worship with gladness. We exalt the Lord with boldness. We serve Him willingly. We worship Him in spirit and in truth, and we understand His position as sovereign God in our lives and over all the Earth.
We do well to acknowledge that He is sovereign, and that He alone is sovereign over our lives.
Oh, what a privilege to be sheep in His pasture! Thanks be to God!
| The preceding is the introduction to a forthcoming book- The Sheep of His Pasture |
