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"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."
(Psalm 100:4)
Let's say you had a large house with 30 rooms in the house, and you had your family over for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. You could have everyone get their plate and go to a private room and eat in silence. But you would never do that. We want to be together. The food is sweeter and the fellowship so much richer when we are together. The same can be said for the people of God when gathered in one accord worshiping the LORD!
Verse 4 gives further instructions on how we are to worship God. We are to enter, or simply stated, you've got to show up. During Covid, we were unable to worship together for three months. Many got out of the habit of attending worship and still today no longer attend but watch online instead. I appreciate our online ministry, but it is simply not the same. We are to be thankful and bless His name (Piel Imperative, the verb form of intensity, or "really bless His name").
One commentary reads, "This second part of the psalm is a call to the saints to enter Jerusalem (God's gates) and to go to the temple (His courts) to offer their thanksgiving sacrifices for His blessings to them." (A.P. Ross. Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 865))
So, this biblical text tells us that we are to worship God by shouting, serving, and coming into His presence with singing. And we are to come with thanksgiving and praise and bless His name. This is how we are to worship our great God. Why? We will discuss the reasons why in tomorrow's devotion. Today's devotion is a bit shorter, so I will make up for it tomorrow!
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful day of celebration and fellowship with those closest to you, giving thanks together to God for all the blessings he has poured out on you.
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