Text: Psalm 100
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 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. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
Devotion
Here three things are named which should make us a people of thanksgiving and songs of praise. 1) The Lord our God is the true God; besides Him there is no God. He is the One we should fear, love, and trust from our whole heart. He is Lord over all creation; the gods of the heathen are nothing. Shouldn’t we who know Him make a joyful noise to Him and let the voice of joy be heard in all the world? Isn’t it great joy to know the only true God and to have Him as the God of our heart? 2) This great joy we have only by His grace. “He made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” We would wander in a strange land as servants, and feed ourselves with scraps like swine (Luk 15:16), if He had not lifted us out and led us into His courts, the Holy Christian Church. Against our own will He brought us out of lust’s satanic, bewitching land, and led us onto the living pasture of His mercy. 3) And this His mercy is everlasting. Every moment we enjoy it. Unceasingly we live by His love, and this shall never end. As little as we can go without air for our physical life, so little can we go without His mercy for either our spiritual or physical life. We live and move and have our being in God’s love (Act 17:28), and we can rest assured that this will last forever! When we no longer enjoy it in faith, then we will enjoy it at the Church’s heavenly wedding feast. “Up then, you believers, the chosen of the Lord, know the Father’s loving mind, in your heart confidently calling Him Abba Father (Rom 8:15). Draw Him closer in your arms, thank Him for the immeasurable honor of being His sons and daughters!”
Shout aloud in all the world, with the voice of joy and gladness, that the Lord is God, the source of goodness and life, so that it resounds all around, so that all people may thank Him and bless His name!
Closing Prayer
Grant us grace, our God, that we may praise You “here in time and hereafter in eternity.” Loose our tongues to give You thanks, and let Your great and gracious name be known and praised in all the world. Amen.
Hymn
Now praise the Lord’s great name
And give the honor due Him;
Peoples of ev’ry name,
You Gentile hosts, come to Him!
Great is His gracious hand,
By mercy we are blest;
His truth shall ever stand,
In this world and the next.
Alleluia to Him
The whole world now is singing;
All nations come to Him,
Their praise and Amen bringing.
Alleluia for peace
And our salvation free!
His kingdom grants release
Now and eternally!
Landstad: Nu lover Herrens Navn L 545 (Psa 117) tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Nun danket alle Gott (ELH 63); alternate hymn: Ye lands, to the Lord ELH 56