“Grateful or Gruntful?”

Thanksgiving having just ended and the Christmas season beginning is a perfect time to study Psalm 100 which is known by more people, just behind Psalm 23.

“Gratitude is an attitude” has been heard over and over. Gratitude is however, more than an attitude, it is a matter of the heart! Being thankful really begins by being rightly related to the Lord, Who is the giver of “every good and perfect gift.”

As we study this Psalm let’s notice:

I. Verse 1. This Psalm is addressed to “all ye lands” meaning everyone in all the lands or world. Here the Lord wants “all” to hear the message of this song and be grateful. Verse 5 says the “Lord is good” and then He says “to all generations.”God is addressing this Psalm to everyone and to all generations or ages. He wants us to hear and then act upon the message.

II. Verse 2. It is clear that this Psalm is about the Lord. Underscore in every verse what is said about the Lord. “Joyful noise unto the Lord”, “Serve the Lord”, “come before His presence”, “the Lord He is God”, “the Lord is good”, etc. Notice also “His people”, “His pasture”, “His gates”, “His courts”, “His name”, His mercy”, “His truth”, and “His presence.” As you can see, we will learn a lot about the Lord from this short Psalm of only five verses.

III. The commands of the Psalm. The last verse gives us the reason for God’s commands. Because “The Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.”

A. Command one: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”. The word “noise” is the key to this command. It means to “get loud” and add to this the word “joyful” and you will have a powerful expression of thanksgiving and praise.

B. Command two: “Serve the Lord with gladness.” One of the evidences of a grateful Christian is that of serving - serving the Lord! He says we are to serve Him with gladness. Gladness is an expression of a grateful heart. When we have a right relationship with the Lord, we are happy to serve Him, resulting in genuine gladness!

C. Command three: “Come before His presence with singing.” It’s the song from the soul that He wants to hear. God wants the song to come from the heart of a grateful servant.

D. Command four: “Know ye that the Lord He is God.” He is saying I want you to know that the Lord you are serving is God Himself! He made us and desires our gratitude! We are His sheep and He shepherds us! Our thanksgiving is not to a statue, not to a creed and not to any religious person - our thanksgiving is to the One who made us, shepherds us, and to the One we worship and serve!

E. Command five: “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” When speaking of “gates” and “courts” no doubt David was referring to the temple - the place where man approached God! When we come into His presence, we are to come with the attitude of gratitude! “Be thankful unto Him.”

F. Command six: “Bless His Name.” The idea to bless the Lord is the idea to kneel before Him. It includes honor and homage. His name is above every name! Many times the Psalmist commands us to “Bless His Name!”

Again, the final verse (5) gives us the reasons for the expectations of the previous four verses. (1.) “For the Lord is good.” God is always good! Like one preacher preached, “Ain’t God Good?” (2.) “His mercy is everlasting.” God’s mercy is never ending. Once a person has received God’s mercy it is everlasting! (3.) “His truth endureth to all generations.” We are grateful because we have the truth, know the Truth and are assured that His word endureth to all and every generation - all the past generations, the present generation and all the future generations!