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.
-Psalm 100
I love the middle. The part that makes the top and the bottom make sense.
Like a Sandwich.
Most of us don’t make a sandwich because we like the bread, as much as we make a sandwich because we need what’s in the middle. The bread is super important, it’s wonderful, but it is secondary to the filling.
This Psalm is usually quoted for it’s bread. “Shout joyfully! Serve with gladness, Come before Him with singing! Enter His gates with thanksgiving!” These are highly quoted, memed (to coin a verb), and sung. Don’t hear me discounting them.
I do love the middle though. Right there, like a thick slice of juicy, deli, turkey with melted Swiss cheese and a couple slices of bacon, between two toasted slices of bread is the gospel.
Know He is God. Don’t just say you believe it, don’t just think you believe it, know it, by knowing Him. Know His love, His power and His deep affection. More than that, know He made you. This isn’t just referring to your created make up, though He did that too, this is referring to all the good in you. We are not self-made geniuses, we are God-made. All we are, He gets credit for. We belong to Him. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. He doesn’t just want to own us, He wants to provide for us, He wants to lead us, He wants to shelter us, He wants to make us something worthwhile.
Jesus tells us in the New Testament that He is the Good Shepherd. He would lay down His life for the sheep, and He did. This gospel is sacred, it is powerful and it can be so easily hidden by the good bread surrounding it. It’s the truth that makes the bread worthwhile though.
We rejoice, we serve, we sing, we give thanks, and bless His name because we are His.