Psalm 100: Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise…
and his courts with praise…
Could any passage of scripture be more clear and directive, encouraging, comforting, or hopeful than Psalm 100? Could a passage explain or clarify the Christian life better? And so simply, too! Who is God? A faithful, tender, merciful shepherd. Who are we? God’s own. The sheep of his pasture. What are God’s people about? Joy. Action. Service. Songs. Entering. Knowing. Believing. Gratitude. Love.
When paired with Luke’s familiar story of the birth of the baby savior Jesus, Psalm 100 takes on a rich and unexpected tone. The holy “courts” the psalmist bids us to enter are not of the echoing, gilded mansion variety, but the rough-hewn wood and scratchy straw of a table. Our king is a tiny shepherd boy whose welcome to the world was closed door after closed door after closed door. Perhaps that’s why he welcomes us so tenderly, why he gathered us to himself on that starry night and gathers us still today.
Demery Bader-Saye
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