A Message from Dr. Keith
Greetings BSBC Friends:
Taking a break from homeschooling this week (to be honest, it is my wife who does the real work, but I am on stand-by as an unpaid consultant and motivational specialist), I had a spare moment and stumbled into Psalm 100. This kind of poem is called a “thank-offering,” so instead of bringing a sacrifice into the temple, the community is here encouraged to bring words of gratitude as a gift to God. Those words, by the way, are supposed to be really loud! There is a strategic placement of this particular psalm, since it is at the end of a group (93-100) that are called kingship psalms where God’s reign is celebrated.
Psalm 100 is short, with familiar lines such as “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” Indeed, there are seven imperative verbs in this short psalm that are used to express whole-hearted and full-bodied worship of the King who is active and engaged. The psalm also provides a mini-tour of the temple: the worshipper moves through the gates, into the courts, and gradually closer to the presence of God. But there is also a really unexpected feature: I accidentally started reading at the middle, but if we look at the beginning there is a genuine shock:
“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”
Usually it is Israelites who are addressed in a composition such as this, but in Psalm 100 “all the earth”—that is, people from every nation all around the world—are invited to lift their voices in unrestrained singing. Not only are they invited to worship and serve the LORD, but they are also invited into the very courts of the temple itself! I found this most encouraging for two reasons. First, it is a declaration that God’s reign is universal, with the kind of dependability that extends to every corner of the globe. So, even in times of crisis and disappointment, we can remind those around us that God is in control regardless of “how grim things might look.”
Second, Psalm 100 unfolds a prophetic vision about all nations assembling together and drawing near to the presence of God. As I think about our community at Brunswick Street, dozens of different nationalities and languages are represented, and so what the psalmist could only imagine, we have the privilege of experiencing on a regular basis (even if it has to be through an online platform these days!).
The concluding lyrics of Psalm 100 rejoice in the ongoing faithfulness of God, whose reliability is enduring and worthy of our trust. So, as I return to homeschooling (for however long), I can do so with the confidence that the great poets of Israel are challenging me to continually enter through the gates of worship with an offering of thanks to the King who reigns over the entire universe!
