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If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.

Gary Player

Joyful worship

Psalm 100 was probably sung by God’s people as they entered the temple gates, where the pilgrim crosses from the zone of the secular into the sacred precincts of the temple. The Psalm is structured around the imperatives ‘shout for joy…worship the LORD…come before him…know…enter…give thanks…praise’. The word ‘know’ (v3) is powerful, carrying the sense of acknowledging and experiencing God, not just knowing about him. The tone of the occasion is striking – ‘joy, gladness, joyful’. Worshipping God is a privilege not a chore. As AA Anderson writes joy ‘is not an optional extra, but the right mood that befits the blessings which God bestows upon his people’. While we can and should worship God as individuals, there is a special blessing in the shared experience of corporate thanksgiving and worship.

The Psalm gives abundant reasons why we should worship God. He is the creator; we are his people; he is good and loving and always will be. Goodness is the very essence of God’s nature and the reliability of his grace and faithfulness is a major reason why we should be joyful in our response to God. A further reason for joy is the mind-blowing thought that we, sinful as we are, have been invited into the presence of this God who is wholly good.

Be intentional in the coming week about seeing everything you do at work and in leisure as an opportunity to ‘worship the LORD with gladness’.

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