This beautiful Psalm is only 5 verses long, with the heading of ‘a Psalm of Praise’. For the reader it is an outline of worship, of which praise and thanksgiving are an important part. If we dwell in this Psalm we will find it is ablaze with grateful adoration of the Lord our God.
‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands’, states the first verse, the original Hebrew wording suggests a ‘glad shout’…… Amen – Praise to our king. And it is plain for our Lord to see that we love Him.
Verse 2 says, ‘Serve the Lord with gladness’. Our attitude in service for the Lord should be one of exhortation; it has been said our service should be as if we were walking a bride down the aisle! Verse 2 also says’ Come before His presence with singing’; not with weeping or wailing, moaning or murmuring, groaning or grumbling but with singing’. Singing is not just what you do when you go to church. The psalmist knew singing should be part of our private worship. In your prayer time at home do you sing to the Lord? When you are next in church, don’t just sing, but look and consider the words you are singing. On many occasions it will move your heart to deeper worship.
Verse 3 says, ‘Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture’. This verse divides into three. Firstly, our worship must be intelligent, we should know the God we worship. How can we know more about Him? By prayerfully getting into His Word. Secondly ‘He hath made us not we ourselves’. Our worship should be insightful. God is our creator. It started with Adam and Eve not with apes or pond scum – we are His people. Thirdly ‘we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture’. Our worship should be intimate. He is our Shepherd God. He knows all about us, let us go boldly to His throne of grace, it is part of our worship.
Verse 4 says, ‘Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise : be thankful unto Him and bless His name’. Dwelling on this verse is so important. We have seen from the first three verses our worship should be joyful, our service in worship should be with gladness, it should be intelligent, insightful and intimate. Now the psalmist is showing us how to get closer to God in worship, how to get through temple wall gates and into the temple court – to get into those sacred precincts and onto that Holy praying ground. Brothers and sisters, it is with Thanksgiving and Praise. Often Christians prayers contain little or no thanksgiving or praise. Do as the psalmist says, ‘be thankful unto Him and bless His name that is above every name. Worship. Psalm 122.
Verse 5 says, ‘For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generation’s.’ Three things here, one, the Lord is good this sums up the Lord’s character. Two, His mercy is everlasting, it is a fountain that can never be drawn dry. Three, His truth endureth to all generations, it cannot ever be broken. We can be confident therefore that this psalm is the way to deepen our worship, and our devotions to God. Amen and Amen.
God Bless,
Michael Whitehouse