Singing Psalm 100 to know whose you are is bound up in who you must know
“Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” ~ Psalm 100:3
Before you can know whose you are, you must know who the Lord is.
“…remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.” ~ Isaiah 46:9-11
He is God. He spoke the heavens, the earth, and you into existence. Since it is only his purposes that will be sure to happen, you learn to listen for them.
“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.” ~ Psalm 138:8
You are his. He made us without our aid and bought you who trust him with his blood. There is no doubt. He will fulfill his purpose for you no matter what. What is that purpose? To teach you to love his ways and so to form Christ in you so that you have a burning desire to be like Jesus in heart.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
You belong to him.
“For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.” ~ 1 Corinthians 7:22-23
You are Christ’s.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
It is God who made you and therefore you are his. He made you in his image. He made you either male or female in his image. The variety he created is especially suited to praise him magnificently as the high and low voices blend in multi-part harmony as we come into his presence with a symphony of singing!
Although you don’t get to make or remake yourself, he transforms your heart to eagerly receive his grace so that you want to be born again, redeemed, and a part of his flock, one of the sheep of his pasture. The fact that you are not your own frees you up to be who you are, who God made you to be.
That’s because the Lord is good and his steadfast love, his compassion, his faithfulness, his lovingkindness, his tender mercies are everlastingly yours. Jesus is your everything. He’s your husband, your Lord and Savior, your refuge, rock, redeemer, your good shepherd, your servant leader, your best friend who is with you always. Singing Psalm 25 you learn that those who fear the Lord will know close friendship with him. He makes known whose you are and shows you the knowledge of his covenant. There is nothing more reassuring than that.
“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:17-18
He could have made you any number of ways but in his infinite wisdom chose to make you just the way you are. Therefore you can be secure in who you are because you know you came from God. In the war against your sin you will be rejoicing through your tears. Praise the Lord that you know him, you know whose you are, and that in his anger against sin, God remembers mercy.
What kept me faithful through incredibly discouraging times when I first became a Christian was reading Jeremiah. He often lamented about how God’s people stubbornly followed their own hearts going after one thing or another instead of going after God like they ought. I didn’t want to stay like that.
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” ~ Jeremiah 9:23-24
“I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Correct me, O LORD, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.” ~ Jeremiah 10:23-24
Singing Psalm 100 to know whose you are so that you know where and how to go
God made certain that Jeremiah knew whose he is.
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.” ~ Jeremiah 1:4-8
Your gaze moves from self as you fix your eyes on Jesus and worship him only. If that seems at all empty or vacuous, get to know who it is that your eyes are fixed upon as you watch him live and teach among his people as you read the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are to be all-consumed with him such that unless we eat of his body and drink of his blood we will not be satisfied. He tells us that he is the bread of life and the living water. He accepted worship because he is God. Angels will not accept worship. Jesus does. When you know whose you are, you make peace with the fact that time ticks relentlessly forward and that you don’t get to tweak it so that it moves backward. You were created to work six days and rest one day. You were recreated in Christ to rest one day and then to work through that rest on the other six days. How do you respond once you get the knack of working through rest six days a week?
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Show thankfulness to Him and bless His name.” ~ Psalm 100:4
You get to serve the Lord with gladness and bless his name. You get to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. You get to come into his presence with joyful singing amid physical, mental, social, relational, emotional, financial or vocational problems or uncertainties. Because you know whose you are as his adopted child, he invites you to share in his rest and welcomes you into his family, his church, as part of his bride no matter your past, no matter what changes you have had to endure to be true to the Lord. His mercies are everlasting! He loved you when you were his enemy. How much more now that you desire to be God’s friend?
Singing Psalm 100 to know whose you are so you know what to do
Next time you feel stuck in the doldrums, sing Psalm 100. There are five variations in the Book of Psalms for Worship alone, all delightful, or if you prefer, you can make up your own tune. Singing Psalm 100 is sure to spark a new perspective.
God has no shortage of resources or ability to restore whatever is wrong and make it right. He gives you faith to know this truth, to know whose you are without a doubt, and it wells up in inexpressible joy within you. But you try your best to express it anyway.
“Make a joyful noise, shout to the LORD all the earth.” ~ Psalm 100:1
Indeed, the best things in life are countercultural. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive. And the greatest among you truly is the servant of all.
“Serve the LORD with gladness.
Come into His presence with singing.” ~ Psalm 100:2
Singing Psalm 100 you internalize that the best is yet to come and is worth waiting for. When you know whose you are your capacity to take in Jesus’ joy continues to grow, and it only gets better and better, never worse. It gets wider and wider, deeper and deeper, higher and higher. Not narrow. Not shallow. Not stunted. It is real, not fake. It is lasting, not transient.
The most pleasurable, physical, emotional, relational experience you can fathom is but a seed compared to what awaits you when you come into the Lord's presence.
Meanwhile the Lord is with you now and gives you the joy of being willing and available to light the path for others to know him. It’s a joy to get to be with others who know that your life is because of Jesus. It’s a joy to get to listen to their stories with real hope. Though I was lost, the Lord, by his word, talked me off the ledge of giving up hope and redirected me to the real source of happiness which is himself. It’s a joy when you catch people before they lose hope as their seeking for happiness elsewhere led them only to dead ends. Sometimes though you come to the end of your rope before you are ready to listen. Jesus did say he would make his disciples fishers of men. Jesus brings opportunities to you as you live for him with an open heart, an open door, and ears to hear. Wait for who he sends your way with joy. Meanwhile,
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.” ~ Habakkuk 3:17-19
Jeremiah made known God’s honest and sobering assessment of his people then and in every generation since the fall of man and why we so desperately need a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
“For my people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.” ~ Jeremiah 4:22
James illustrates the downward spiral:
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” ~ James 1:14-15
God is fulfilling his purpose to form Christ in you by taking you out of your darkness and into his wonderful light.
Society ruled by the god of this world would like us to believe that God is a killjoy. That’s why so many are lured into seeking their own short-lived happiness apart from God.
As opposed to being a killjoy, God’s joy is too much for us to grasp and take in which is why he describes what he has for us as more than we could ask or imagine. If his love were junk, who would care that it’s everlasting? No, the Lord is good and his love is good in the truest sense of the word good. When whose you are gets internalized, who you truly are is what gets expressed.
“The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.” ~ Zephaniah 3:17
The climax of his love surpasses sustained crescendos. His steadfast love, faithfulness, friendship, loving kindness, tender mercies, and truth satisfy beyond understanding with a cascading ripple effect of sheer pleasure that will last to all generations. “He will exult over you with loud singing.” The only response that even approaches being fitting is for every generation of the whole earth to make a joyful noise and shout to the Lord in utmost sincere thanks and praise. “He will quiet you with his love.”
“For the LORD is good; His love
is everlasting.
His truth endures to every generation.” ~ Psalm 100:5
September 20-27, 2024
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