Giving Thanks

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! - 100:1

How would you describe our worship to the Lord? Worship is to be joyful and expressive. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord; shout joyfully to the Lord.” As we come into this Thanksgiving week, we look at what is one of the most beloved and familiar psalms in the entire Jewish hymn book. It’s called “A Psalm for Giving Thanks,” and it’s actually the only one psalm in the whole Scripture that is specifically assigned that way. There are lots of psalms that have thanksgiving and praise in them, but this one actually has as its heading “A Psalm for Giving Thanks.”

So we’re going to be looking at Psalm 100. As you read through the book of Psalms, there are lots of different kinds of psalms. You may find that there are some psalms of lament, psalms of sadness, psalms of confession. There are psalms of instruction. But this psalm is different.

There’s no mourning in this psalm. There’s no grieving in this psalm. There are no tears in this psalm. This is a hymn. It’s a hymn of praise. It’s a doxology. It’s a hymn of joy and gladness and singing. This is a psalm that may have been sung by the Jews in the Old Testament era as they approached the temple in Jerusalem to worship. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing.”

The first two verses are a call to worship. In that call to worship, that invitation to worship, there are three essential things (imperatives): Make a joyful shout to the Lord; serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing.

Then in verse 3, there’s a cause for worship, a reason to worship. And that takes the form of three declarations (affirmations): He is God; He made us, and we are His.

And then, verse 4, we have another call to worship, another invitation to worship. And, again, there are three essential things or imperatives: Enter into His gates; give thanks to Him and bless His Holy name.

And then, finally, in verse 5, we have once again a cause for worship; three attributes of God: His goodness; His steadfast love, (or as some of your translations say, His mercy); and His faithfulness. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He can’t deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

So you see here the Trinity of God—threes everywhere in the call to worship and in the cause for worship—they just go back and forth. And today we want to see about our thanksgiving and our worship. How should our worship service be?

Worship is to be Joyful and expressive:

The first thing we notice is that worship is to be joyful and expressive—joyful and expressive. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.” One translation says, “Shout joyfully to the Lord.” another translation: “Shout for joy to the Lord.”

The reason you have these different translations is it’s hard to come up with just one way of saying what the word is in the Hebrew text. So it can be translated: “A joyful noise,” or “Shout joyfully.” But it’s loud. It’s noisy. It’s joyful. It’s expressive. It’s celebrative. “Shout for joy.” This isn’t because God is hard of hearing. God hears fine when we whisper. He hears what we’re thinking even if we don’t say it. But when we “shout for joy,” we’re celebrating. We’re being expressive of our thanks to the Lord.

And the concept here of shouting joyfully is like an earsplitting, celebratory fanfare for a king. The King is here! The King is coming! We’re in His presence. We’re entering His presence, and we want to shout for joy. It’s a word that could be used as a victory cry in battle. It’s the same word that’s used in the book of Joshua when he commanded the people to shout outside the city of Jericho, and the walls fell down.

Sometimes we wonder if the walls of discouragement, depression, fear, anxiety, anger would crumble as we “shout to the Lord,” as we joyfully express our celebration of who He is. Shouting out to the Lord means, “sing to the Lord,” worship to the Lord, cry unto the Lord, pray to the Lord with a sound. Can we join in praise, & worship? Or you may sing a song to worship our God whenever you get time.

You see this concept all through the Psalms. “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!” - Psalm 66:1.

“Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” - Psalm 81:1.

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, [or the harp] with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!” - Psalm 98: 4–6. And then, continuing in Psalm 98, even nature is called to join in this great symphony of praise. “Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord” (vv. 7–8).