This past Friday I led the school in chapel session to end the week. It was a good experience, I was concerned my meditation would be too short but it sounds like it fulfilled the ten minute requirement. Below you can find a rough version of the message I delivered.
Psalm 100
A Psalm for giving thanks.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
(ESV)
This Psalm is often used as a text for reflection on Thanksgiving day.
So It’s a few weeks late, but also a bit early for our American brother.
While a certain roommate and I were trying to decide what microwaveable meal to eat on the Thanksgiving weekend, it struck me that of all our holidays, Thanksgiving is probably the least influenced by pagan religions or our worldly society.
Now sometimes people give too much credit to just how influential previous pagan cultures have been. One article I read claimed that, “The Christmas Tree has its direct roots in the Asherah poles of the ancient Canaanite religions.”
While we don’t deny that trees have long been worshipped, or crafted into idols in heathen religions, it seems like a stretch to suggest that the 16 Century Northern Europeans had 2000 year old, Canaanite asherah poles in mind when they decided to cut down evergreens and place candles on them.
But many have rightly pointed out that Christmas coincides with a variety of cultic winter solstice celebrations, and today it has become a time in which the world celebrates rampant materialism.
Certain Easter traditions and images have been linked to cultic fertility celebrations.
New Years is a primarily a celebration of humanistic achievements.
So we can at least understand that when these events were first commemorated there were non-christian influences.
But Thanksgiving is different.
It is more or less a North American anomaly, and in Canada it serves as, “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.”
There has no doubt been a secularization of this holiday too. Yet it generally is still seen as a time of reflecting on the many blessings you have been given over the past year.
It’s fitting then to look at Psalm 100,
which, of all the songs in the psalter, is specifically dedicated to giving thanks. This is almost certainly in reference to the thank offering. The same word is used in Lev 7:12 and Lev 22:29.
These Thank offerings were often a communal meal celebrated to praise God for his good deeds and that is what this psalm of thanks also does.
It’s remarkable that in the opening verse we see that it’s not only Israel who is called to partake of this act of worship, but the whole earth!
The whole earth is called to praise the Lord for the care he has shown to his people, treating them as the sheep of his pasture.
God leads his sheep to fertile fields where they can graze upon the bounty of the land.
Old testament believers confessed their dependence upon The Lord and were commanded to praise him for two reasons, his being and relationship to them, and his mercy and truth.
The Lord had promised Abraham that he would establish his descendants and make them a great nation, he did this by guiding them to the land of Canaan and providing it to them as their inheritance.
When we look back on how God led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, provided for them in the desert, and enabled them to cross the Jordan River, we see that God truly led them as a shepherd guides his flock.
While this song was not likely composed prior to the established kingdom, it’s clear that throughout history God’s people have praised him for his mighty acts and provisions. The Israelites clearly recognised that it was God who defended them from the nations around them and it was God who caused them to increase and prosper. Finally, under the reign of Solomon God dwelt among his people in the temple of Jerusalem.
And Being in the presence of the Lord is made clear throughout the psalm – The people are to come before the Lord, to pass through the gates, and enter into his courtyard.
Moreover, within the psalter it is placed after a number of Psalms which praise God as King who rules from Zion. It’s likely then, that Psalm 100 would likely have been sung in Temple worship.
Matthew Henry writes the following on the verse 4:
Be thankful to him and bless his name; that is,
(1.) We must take it as a favour to be admitted into his service, and give him thanks that we have liberty of access to him, that we have ordinances instituted and opportunity continued of waiting upon God in those ordinances.
(2.) We must intermix praise and thanksgiving with all our services. This golden thread must run through every duty (Heb. 13:15), for it is the work of angels. In every thing give thanks, in every ordinance, as well as in every providence.
The Old Testament believers looked back on the provisions God had provided them and praised him.
We too as believers in the Lord are called to praise our Lord and our maker. We have a bigger picture of God shepherding his people. How our Chief Shepherd provided for his disciples, healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, cast out demons, and ultimately laid down his life for his sheep.
But his tender mercy did not stop there or when he ascended into heaven. He sent his spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers, he caused the church to spread out of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, he protected his flock when they suffered persecution, He raised up Christian leaders in the church and even Christian emperors, He defended her against heresies and granted our forefathers wisdom in crafting the creeds, He raised Godly men like Charlemagne to further guard his flock here on earth, He caused men like John Wycliffe and Martin Luther to protest against the injustices and impurities they saw, and to boldly present the truths revealed in scripture.
But His care did not stop at the Reformation, he continues to care for his church and his flock as it spreads throughout the world and he continues to care for us – his sheep. He is the Good Shepherd, He has laid down his life for his sheep. And he surely will continue to be with us until the end of the age. Then we will be able to gather before his throne and say,
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and praise!”
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
“And the Lamb on the throne will be [our] shepherd.”
Prayer of Jonah 