Psalm 100
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 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.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
His love endures forever.
Most of us humans are not good at keeping a promise. Even to ourselves for instance when we make new year resolutions. How many times have we said we are going to do something and then find that we have to make excuses for not keeping our word?
Matthew 5:34-37 I tell you, do not use strong words when you make a promise. Do not promise by heaven. It is the place where God is. 35 Do not promise by earth. It is where He rests His feet. Do not promise by Jerusalem. It is the city of the great King. 36 Do not promise by your head. You are not able to make one hair white or black. 37 Let your yes be YES. Let your no be NO. Anything more than this comes from the devil.
According to the Scriptures, it is emphasized that we should place our complete trust in God. The potential danger lies in relying on humans, as they are incapable of rescuing us. Redemption and salvation can solely be found in Jesus, not in any human being. Furthermore, no individual can fully cater to all our requirements, only God possesses such capability of fully meeting all our needs.
You can rely on God’s word one hundred percent. When God says something, that settles it.
God’s love is steadfast, He is a promise-keeping God. God is the same yesterday, today forever. God is always faithful to his covenantal promises, and here in Psalm 100, those covenantal promises are extended beyond Israel to all nations. They too will see, know, and experience the unshakable, resolute, and absolute love of God to his people.
The love, of God, gives people from all nations a compelling reason to sing his praises and worship him. The primary reason is based on the love of God for His creation. God’s original intent has always been to have all nations blessed. This was the promise to Abraham
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God loves all people who He has created. Sometimes we tend to think only Christians who go to church are loved by God. God gave His only begotten Son. He gave the one, that millions will be saved.
When will our desire be for the millions of people across the earth to believe and experience the mighty love of an extravagant Father? Rather than our desire for the world to come to an end and for us to live in eternal comfort carried away from Earth?
The salvation of God is not for a select group of people but for all; whoever believes.
I have a longing to see every one of the 8 billion people on earth loving and worshipping God. I believe it is God’s intent and longing. It is a promise.
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Revelation 7:9-10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!”
Psalm 100 It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
In the Old Testament, the God of Israel is designated as "The Shepherd of Israel," Those who followed Him, who heard His voice, and were fed and guided and taught by Him knew Him physically as the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd.
In the New Testament, my favourite parables of the Father’s extravagant love are found in Luke 15
Luke 15:1-7 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Whose loss was it, the sheep or the shepherd? It was the shepherd’s loss. Every single person who is saved is received by God our Father with great rejoicing.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God remains the Chief shepherd of our lives. His love is for every person on the earth.
Psalm 23 is probably the clearest of all scriptures explaining the heart of our shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
As we read through this Psalm, we see that;
He makes me to lie
He leads me beside
He restores
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
And then; Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
He led me in every instance but it is myself that walks through the valley of shadow of death.
It is I who chose this route but still, God is with me and take note it is through and not into.
Ezekiel 34:15 I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God.
The Old Testament showbread placed on the table in the Tabernacle provides a wonderful picture of Jesus, the Bread of Life. Jesus is holy before God, He provides true sustenance, and He is always present. “Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry’” (John 6:35).
It is through our feeding that rest comes. First, the feed is in good pastures and then follows the rest.
There would be no rest if we were hungry. We are constantly trying to satisfy the outer first before the inner is filled.
Our church programmes are aimed at attracting the natural 5 senses, sight, sound, taste, feelings, and aromas. Our church programmes have their, rituals, ceremonies, meetings, revivals, and activities, only to discover that the shepherds have missed the feeding of the inner man. Not drawn by the appeal to the outer but rather drawn by the Holy Spirit.
But HE who is the good shepherd has promised that He will feed, and He will cause to lie down! It is not an emotional workup and sweat to experience God. Spirit draws spirit and is simply received and appropriated by faith.
How precious is the impartation of His Life, when it abides within, you find a rest taking over within. Gone are the strivings and the sweat of our work. No need for the flesh to conjure up a new batch of religious rituals. The rest of the soul is divinely quickened and divinely sustained.
Psalm 100 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
His love endures forever.
1 Corinthians 13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 says, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”.
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love is the fulfillment of our salvation, HE is Love therefore we are love.
