STUDY SCRIPTURE: PSALM 100
KEY VERSE
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.
Psalm 100:3
INTRODUCTION AND STUDY
Young children have always been taught, “Keep your voice down and keep yourself under control”. Nehemiah That might be good advice but it is not wise that we teach it to apply in every situation. What we see happening though is that when young as well as older people watch TV programs that they like or go to Movies where the story and special effects excite them they will show a lot of energy, shouting and sometimes screaming to show their appreciation. The screaming and shouting always shows itself at sports games and competition.
We know therefore that young people will always become excited and show it when they like something they are doing. The only problem is that they do this when they are doing only certain things.
But God who created us tells us in Psalm 100 that we are to know and remember that the Lord God is God. Our life depends on Him keeping us, looking after us, protecting us, and sustaining us with food and all kinds of goodies that we need.
We belong to Him. We are therefore to show gratitude to Him for what He has done and so we must come before Him to worship and thank Him.
This Psalm 100 tells us how we must act. We must remember that the Lord God reigns in heaven and in earth and we are to tell that to everyone.
God rescued us from being destroyed by the sins we always do and He redeemed us. We belong to Him and so we are to come together with others to praise God and make a joyful noise of thanks because He has given us the victory of sin and death. We cannot thank God properly and look like we are half-dead or three-quarter dead, behaving like we are tired and only want to give God weak thanks. That kind of attitude shows we do not understand or appreciate the amazing and incredible good things God has done for us.
We must use the same kind of energy in shouting and praising that we use at our favourite sport event.
We must show our appreciation of God by singing. Everybody likes to sing and play good music and God likes to hear us sing songs of praise, and play musical instruments, for when we do that we will show the happiness coming from inside our heart.
God is a Shepherd to us, and He keeps and looks after us just like the Shepherd looks after the sheep and protects them, finding them food, and a place to rest and keep them out of the cold and the storms.
So when we consider the good things our good God has done for us and the fact that He has always been faithful and kept His promises to us, let us come together and make a joyful noise of praise. Do not be afraid to shout and show your emotions when you worship God. But make sure it is not a make believe emotion, but real strong emotion coming from your heart.
Be thankful
-to be alive
-to be able to love and be loved by God, parents, family, and brethren
-to have the gift of time that we can use in whatever way we choose
-to have the gift God gives up to be able to see the colours in the beautiful sunset and sunrise, and to enjoy the beautiful flowers and plants. -to be able to thank God who loves us, and had proved that He loved us by sending His Son to take away our sins by what He did on the Cross, bringing us into His family, and guaranteeing we will have a glorious and happy future in the New Heaven and the New Earth with Him.