Know that the LORD, He 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, NKJV)

These are the verses we are studying today.  Whenever I read them, I can hear a song that has these words.  In fact, I can think of several songs that use this verse!  Why do so many songwriters love Psalm 100:3?  Because it is such a comfort… a great song to have playing through your mind on a hard day.

When the Bible uses LORD in all caps, we can immediately substitute the name “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.”  The Bible wants to be very specific about WHICH god it is referring to.  After all, since the earliest of times, man has tried to invent gods and give the worship that belongs to Jehovah to their man-made gods instead.  So beginning in the Genesis account of creation (see Gen. 2:4), the Bible clearly specifies that Jehovah God created the world and all that is in it, and you can trace Jehovah God’s mighty works through the Bible by watching for the word “LORD”.

That’s why the Message Bible paraphrases the verse this way:

“Know this: GOD is God, and God, GOD.
He made us; we didn’t make him…”

In other words, only Jehovah is the true God.  And who is the true God?  It is Jehovah.  This isn’t a politically correct statement.  Allah is not the true God.  Neither is Buddha.  Neither can WE attain a status of god-likeness.  We can’t be beautiful “goddesses,” a statement I hear often online.

One reason this statement crashes headlong with our culture is that we long for knowledge and wisdom.  We want to show how smart we are.  We congratulate others for their wisdom.  We women go to others and call them “wise.”  While many of them do possess great knowledge, this verse is quick to point out that “He made us; we didn’t make him.”

Some days we think we’ve got our health and the entire arena of medical science figured out.  We brag that we’ve found the best diet ever or we’ve discovered a way to conquer cancer.  But predictably, only a matter of years later, our best theories are turned on their heads.  How much do we really know, after all?  We can’t even make a good copy of a human, let alone the real thing.  “He made us; we didn’t make him.”

I have noticed that when I allow myself to sin by worrying, I am in reality telling God that I can control the world better than He can.  “Lord,” I pray, pretending holiness and submission, “would you please answer my prayer?  After all, it wouldn’t be right for ____ to happen.  You know how deeply it would affect ____.  So Father, please hear my prayer and ____.” Very rarely do I pray as Jesus did, “Father, not my will but yours be done.”

In our pride, we make the mistake of accusing God of not caring about us. We think if He allows difficult circumstances into our lives, He must not really love us.  How could a GOOD God allow BAD things to happen?

Let’s look at this verse again:
“We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

Not every one can make this claim, but if we know Christ as our Savior, we can!

• WE are His people…  We have no inherent worth.  We are not wise.  But He loves us!
• We ARE His people…  We have no reason to doubt God.  When He makes a promise, it always comes true.  He loves us!
• We are HIS people…  We don’t belong to a fictional God who lives in a temple or on a shelf or in the recesses of someone’s imagination.  He is Jehovah God, and He is real.  It is to THIS God that we belong.  And He loves us!
• We are his PEOPLE…  While this promise was originally made to the nation of Israel, the New Testament makes it clear that the church has been grafted into Israel and that we also are the people of God.  He personally cares about each individual, each family, each local congregation, and each nation of believers.  Oh, how He loves us!

Life is difficult.  God’s timing is impossible to understand.  We often feel helpless and vulnerable.  We feel like little sheep, alone on a pasture filled with dangerous cliffs, hungry predators, and violent storms.  Yet this pasture belongs to Him, and we are His most priceless possession.  Like sheep, we’re not very smart, and we’re often quite afraid.  Yet like a good shepherd, He takes personal responsibility for where we walk, He protects us from those who want to harm us, and He becomes the Shelter when life gets stormy.  He loves us!

And that is why the Psalmist shouts,

“On your feet now–applaud GOD!  Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence” (MSG).

And shouldn’t this make a difference in how we live?

P.S. Discussion question: Back in 2004, I wrote that “we can’t be beautiful ‘goddesses,’ a statement I hear often online.” Have you read similar things on women’s blogs, forums, or websites? What do you think is meant? What should be our response?

This week we’re going to look at verse 2…

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing. (NKJV)

I hope you don’t get tired of my mentioning “The Six Servants” of journalism (who, what, when, where, why, and how), but they are really quite helpful in Bible study.  See if you get the same answers I do…

WHO –  Who is this verse talking to?  “all you lands” (see v. 1)
WHAT — What are we to do?
(1)  Serve the LORD with gladness
(2)  Come before His presence with singing
WHEN — When should we do this?  when we are “before His presence”, when we
are serving the Lord
WHERE — Where will we be?  This is similar to the “when” question, isn’t it?  I suppose we are in the very presence of God.
WHY — Why should we do these things?  These verses don’t really say, but I peeked ahead and saw that we’ll be studying this next week, in verse 3.
HOW — How are we to “serve” and “come”?  with gladness and with singing

I’ve learned a lot already, but it’s time to really put on my thinking cap and answer, “What does it mean?”  In Kay Arthur’s book, How to Study Your Bible, she suggests following several principles (see ch. 4):

(1)  Remember that context rules.
(2)  Always seek the full counsel of the Word of God.
(3)  Remember that Scripture will never contradict Scripture.
(4)  Do not base your doctrine on an obscure passage of Scripture.
(5)  Interpret Scripture literally.
(6)  Look for the author’s intended meaning of the passage.
(7)  Check your conclusions by using reliable commentaries.

Well, last week we looked at the context of Psalm 100.  Therefore, we can reasonably assume that we are to “serve the LORD with gladness” and “come before His presence with singing” in the context of corporate worship, in a body of believers who have congregated to reaffirm their commitment to the God of heaven.  We’ve all read through our Bibles several times (right? <wink>), so we know that this interpretation doesn’t contradict other Scriptures.  We’re interpreting this passage literally.

It seems that David was calling his fellow Israelites, and all others from other lands, to congregate together in God’s temple for the purposes of shouting joyfully to the Lord (verse 1), serving the Lord with glad hearts, and singing songs of praise and thanksgiving.  (Other references to coming into God’s temple are made later in verse 4.)

When the Jews entered the temple in Jerusalem, they came not only for sacrifice or to hear the laws of God read, but also to praise and serve God. I think David wanted them to remember that worship should not become boring or ho-hum in their lives.  Rather, the thought of praising God beside other believers should make them want to shout!  It also seems that when their worship was authentic and heart-felt, they’d also want to SERVE with joy and a song.  In other words, worship on the Sabbath day would affect how the Jewish person lived his life on the other six days.

David was also warning the Israelites.  King David was familiar with God’s laws (see Psalm 119), so he would have known God’s words in Deuteronomy 28:

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (verses 47-48).

Sadly, this prophecy came true for Israel many times!

So how does this apply to us today?  Was this Psalm only written for Israelites?  I think not, because a simple search of my Bible tells me that believers in the New Testament also praised and served God with singing:

“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

“…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 5:18-20)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

I also asked the question, “What does it mean to serve the Lord?”  I did a word search on “serve” in the New Testament, and I noticed that it wasn’t talking about preaching, or singing in the choir, or witnessing to unbelievers, or any of the other things that I typically associate “service” with.

I noticed two things:  (1)  serving the Lord means obeying His commands, and (2) serving the Lord means NOT serving myself.  It means I put my own desires and wishes aside and instead concentrate on HIS desires and wishes.  Of course, Ps. 100:2 says to do this with GLADNESS.

So I have to ask myself:
~ Am I obeying God’s commands?  Am I doing it happily?
~ Am I putting my own desires aside?
~ Do I know God (and His Word) well enough to know WHAT His wishes are?
~ Do I regularly come into the presence of God with my fellow believers? Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).
~ Do I sing?  Do I give thanks?  Do I make a melody in my heart to the Lord?
~ During corporate worship, do I put my whole heart into the effort of singing?

So there we have it — we looked at God’s Word, we interpreted what it meant, and we applied it to our lives.  The only step left is to go out and DO it. 

Today’s verse is:

“Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!”  (Ps. 100:1, NKJV)

Psalm 100 was probably written by King David, says one of the commentaries I read.  The Jews claim that this Psalm was sung when the peace offerings for thanksgiving were offered up.

I am reading through my Bible, just two chapters a day, and right now I’m in the book of Job.  That means I’ve finished reading through all the historical books from Genesis to Esther.  I really enjoyed reading about the good and evil kings of Israel and Judah.  I especially enjoyed reading in Ezra and Nehemiah about how the obedient Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon, and how they rebuilt the walls and the temple in Jerusalem. Several celebrations were recorded, and I often wish I could have been there as the people stood shoulder to shoulder, listened to the Law as it was read, and shouted their commitment to Jehovah God.

While I’m not Jewish, I’m thankful the Psalmist tells me that I can shout joyfully to the Lord, too!  Romans 11 tells me that even though I’m a Gentile (a Swedish-German, in my case), I have been “grafted in” to the body of Christ, like a branch that has been grafted in to an olive tree.

Psalm 95:1 says, “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.” We have so much to sing and shout about!  My pastor jokes that since he can’t sing, he’ll try to make a joyful noise… but that we might want to sit in the back. 

Psalm 100:1 tells us to shout joyfully.  When I think of the word joyful, I think of being all filled up — ready to burst! — with gladness.  This, of course, is NOT my natural mood!  :-)  I’ll smile sometimes, I’ll even laugh out loud, but “filled up, ready to burst”?  This kind of joy takes work.  I have to prepare my mind for it.  I have to think and think so much about God and His deeds for me that first, there is a little trickle of joy, then a little rush more, then finally a river floods out.

This verse tells us to shout.  Shouting is embarrassing, isn’t it?  I suppose some people are naturally outgoing, so they wouldn’t be intimidated by shouting in public.  (I’m usually too shy to sing out loud in the shower!)  But I want you to notice that this Psalm was written for a GROUP to sing together.  Remember those Jews standing shoulder to shoulder?  I take great comfort in gathering together with my fellow believers on Sunday. It’s easier to worship in a group, and I think that’s on reason why God tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25).  We don’t actually shout in my church, but there have been times I’ve wanted to.

For instance, this last Sunday we were sharing prayer requests.  It seemed that many of us had urgent burdens on our hearts.  But then we began to sing.  I remember having a hard time singing because of the overwhelming feeling of praise and joy to a God who cares about our every need.

Someday we’ll be in heaven, and we’ll stand shoulder to shoulder as subjects of the King of Kings.  Angels’ trumpets will announce Him, and we’ll shout in exultation.  I’m sure there will be tears of joy and thankfulness for all He has done for us.  We’ll stand together, people from every land and language, all together in our love and gratitude to the King.

In the next few weeks, we’ll begin to list some of the reasons why we should praise God.  We’ll talk about who He is and what He has done.  My prayer is that meditating on the goodness of God will help us to praise Him constantly and consistently, regardless of the changes around us and the fluctuating moods within us.

Praise God, from whom all blessing flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

This morning, the kids excitedly put on their shoes, happy to be going out the door rather than sitting down to a normal day of schoolwork. I haven’t been feeling well, so Daddy and Grandpa joined the kids on their adventure.

Since I didn’t go, I couldn’t tell you too much about what they did. While they were gone, though, I went online to see if I could find some helpful planning forms.

I was pleased with the forms I found by author Cindy Downes:

• Her “Field Trip Planning Guide” is really thorough.
• If I wanted to create an entire unit study around this field trip, I’d use her “Field Trip Unit Planner” form.
• She also has a “Field Trip Report Form” that is especially suited to our children’s notebooking pages.

Field trips are a great way for children to learn, a wonderful escape from the daily grind — and a lot of work for Mom to plan. Mom, they’re worth it! As homeschooling families, we can go on trips to places and at times that others never could. I encourage you to take advantage of this!

As always, planning ahead is the best policy.

1. Make a list of possible field trips.
2. Call ahead to see what dates, hours, and requirements might be.
3. Invite others to join you if you wish.
4. Put the field trips on your calendar.
5. Using the forms above, plan special activities and learning projects.
6. Keep some extra forms on hand for spontaneous “field trips” (like our apple-orchard adventure today). Sometimes these are the best field trips!

May this be your best “field trip” year ever!