Good God!
Psalm 100
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
As we approach this Thanksgiving season, many will rejoice, while others find it hard to feel very thankful. This has been a long, difficult, and very different year for a variety of reasons, many of which remain unresolved.
The COVID-19 pandemic is still a serious concern. Economic recovery has a long way to go. Working for social justice and racial equality is an ongoing battle. The national debt grows. Political polarization persists. Some days, it seems that chaos reigns.
Our families may not be able to gather for Thanksgiving.
Can we still be thankful?
Making the effort to turn from trouble to thanksgiving could be a worthwhile exercise, and Psalm 100 is a perfect text for that. The poem makes deep and meaningful claims about who God is, who humans are, and how the two should relate. The song calls us to be thankful that God is, that God has created us, and that God has called us into relationship.
Whether we have weathered the year relatively unscathed, or whether we have been scarred by illness, unemployment, or stressful events, Psalm 100 can speak to us. It was written for people on both ends of the spectrum and in between. It was written for every person who believes, and even for those who do not believe. It is a joyful invitation for all people on earth to celebrate God, and to celebrate God’s goodness.
The psalm is only five verses long, and it falls naturally into two parts, each containing a call to praise followed by a rationale for worship. The first three verses call us to celebrate the belief that the LORD is God. The last two verses call us to celebrate that the LORD is good. If we can remember no more than that, we understand the main point of the psalm.
Celebrate: the LORD is God! (vv. 1-3)
The psalm begins with an imperative invitation that might have been spoken by a worship leader in the temple courts: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!” (v. 1). No word meaning “joyful” is in the text, but it is often inserted to reflect the worshipful context. The Hebrew literally reads: “Shout to Yahweh, all the earth!”
In the context of praise, one would expect such shouts to be joyful. The phrase “all the earth” implies that the call to worship Yahweh is universal.
What type of joyful noise might the poet have had in mind? The psalm as a whole is clearly a hymn of praise, and it appears to be associated with the worshipers’ entrance into the temple courts. Thus, as liturgical churches may play or sing an introit while worship leaders enter the sanctuary (often to the musical shout of an organ), the psalm may have served as a brief call to worship, inviting pilgrims massed outside to come forward into the temple courts.
As a rule, Anglo Baptists in America rarely shout in church, unless it’s in an unhappy business meeting. Conversely, many ethnic congregations and churches with Pentecostal leanings anticipate joyful interjections from the congregation. Here as in other areas, culture plays a large role in influencing our style of worship.
Is actual shouting necessary? Does the psalm suggest that churches should seek a hymn-leader like Otis Day from the 1978 movie Animal House, singing “Shout! a little bit louder now, Shout! a little bit louder now, Shout! real loud now, Shout! come on now . . .”?
Perhaps not.
But what do we need? When it comes to praising God in church, it’s not the volume that counts, but the attitude. Shouting joyfully is just the first of three responses the psalmist calls for: in gathering for worship we are not only to make a joyful noise, but to “worship the Lord with gladness” and “come into his presence with singing” (v. 2).
“Shout,” “worship,” and “come” are all imperative verbs. As far as the psalmist was concerned, there was no role for wallflowers at the temple — all were called to worship and to sing.
It would be lovely to know what joyful tunes or harmonies the people of Israel might have sung, but we cannot.
But imagine: if a songwriter were to pen something akin to Psalm 100 today, what sort of tune would she use? Take a few moments to think about it. What are some examples of happy joyous music? Do you have any favorite praise choruses or traditional hymns designed to praise God?
I like the thought of setting Psalm 100 to a joyful, Caribbean beat with kettle drums – something that makes hearers want to join in, and maybe even to move. [DD]
Psalm 100 calls us to praise the Lord, and to do so with joy. Now the important question is “Why?” And the first answer is this: because the one we praise is God.
Verse 3 calls worshipers to “know that the LORD is God.” In Hebrew, the word we translate as “know” implies personal, intimate knowledge that comes through experience. That is where worship begins. The psalmist does not challenge us to simply know about God, but to know God. [DD]
This is emphasized by the poet’s use of God’s personal name that was revealed to Moses. The name Yahweh may derive from a verb form meaning something like “the one who is,” or “the one who causes to be.” English translations typically render “Yahweh” as LORD, in all capital letters. [DD]
Why do we worship Yahweh? Elementary, the psalmist might say: because Yahweh is God! There really is a God, he insists, and we know God’s name, and we know that Yahweh cares for us in a special way.
There really is a God, to whom we owe our being. “It is he that hath made us,” v. 3 declares, “and we are his” (NRSV). As God’s people, we are like sheep in God’s pasture, a common metaphor in Psalms (23:1, 28:9, 74:1, 77:21, 78:52-53, 80:1, 95:7). This claim tells us something about our basic identity in life. It tells us who we are, from whence we came, and where we belong. We came from God, who created us, and we belong in God’s fields, where the one who made us also cares for us.
Celebrate: the LORD is good! (vv. 4-5)
Some interpreters see vv. 1-4 as an extended call to praise, with v. 5 furnishing the reason for praise. I prefer to see a two-part structure in which vv. 1-2 serve as an initial call to praise, with a reason for it given in v. 3. This is followed by a second call to praise in v. 4, with a second reason that worship is due in v. 5.
We can envision the worship leader, having opened the service with an initial burst of jubilation, now inviting the people to come forward to the temple’s inner courtyard: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, and bless his name!” (v. 4). [DD]
Here we have three more enthusiastic imperatives — “Enter!” “Give thanks!” “Bless!” The psalmist understood the human need to acknowledge the Creator and to respond with thanksgiving and praise.
Again we ask why we should offer such praise? Because Yahweh is not only God (v. 3), but good (v. 5): “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
God’s goodness is shown in a steadfast or faithful love for God’s people. The word translated “steadfast love” (chesed) comes from a verbal root meaning to be good or kind. It is commonly translated with words like “kindness,” “lovingkindness,” or “mercy.” As a divine attribute, it also carries the connotation of loyalty or commitment to covenant promises, leading to its frequent translation as “steadfast love.”
In choosing this term and combining it with “faithfulness,” the psalmist insists that God’s love is not volatile or shallow. It is a deep love, an abiding love, an eternal love. Believing this, those who trust in God need never feel alone: God’s love is dependable and sure.
What are some of the ways we see evidence of God’s creative power and enduring love? Can we recognize it in giant bales of hay that dot the fields, in the smell of the crisp fall air, in the colors of leaves and the songs of birds?
Can we see glimpses of God’s love in the devotion of a spouse, or a child – or parents whose love never stops? Are we fortunate enough to sense it in the support of friends who truly care about our well-being? [DD]
Some people may feel more in tune with adversity than with accomplishment. We may have been too often disappointed by those whose love is unsteady and whose promises are empty. We may have borne the brunt of the painful pandemic and its many-tentacled consequences of job losses, social isolation, and the upheaval of schools and workplaces.
For many, the poet’s happy praise may ring hollow. Like Israel in exile, we may wonder how we can sing Yahweh’s praise while in a strange land, yet the poet behind Psalm 137 found
the faith and hope to persevere.
Psalm 100, indeed, may speak most clearly to those whose lives are hard, for in dark days the assurance of God’s loyal love is particularly welcome – and that makes it worthy of praise. When life seems fragile and friendships fickle, it is a comfort to be reminded that the Lord we worship is a God who wants to be known.
With the psalmist, we can declare that the Lord we worship is not just truly God, but truly good.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Psalm 100
Youth Teaching Resources
Social Media Challenge
Post across your social media platform all the things that you are thankful for. You may even want to take a different area of your life and post just about that area for each day.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Psalm 100
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Thanksgiving” from The Blind Side
Via www.youtube.com
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