Enter with Thanksgiving - November 23rd, 2011

⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. 

And into His courts with praise. 

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 

⁵ For the LORD is good; 

His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

History and Context:

The Psalms are a collection of old hymns which the Jews used to bring praise and worship to Yahweh. Most of them were written by King David, but there were also other contributors and a few, like this one, have unknown authors. This psalm is short, only five verses, and is simply a song of thanksgiving towards God.

The Text:

In the first two verses of this psalm it talks about coming to God in gladness and with a joyful shout. This entire psalm is simply exclaiming how we should come into the presence of God. We should recognize His goodness and be thankful for what He has done for us. The psalmist declared this long before God delivered His greatest sacrifice by sending His Son to die for us. This means that now this declaration that we should continually come into His presence in thanksgiving is even more true than it was then. 

The Challenge:

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for us Americans. It is a time that we have set aside every year in order to give thanks for everything that we have. Let us do this but let us also remember that thanksgiving is an attitude we should have every day as we enter into prayer. Usually we enter into His gates with petitions not with thanksgiving. He deserves our gratitude and our praise for everything He has done for us and simply for who He is.

The Prayer:

Lord, I just want to thank you for everything you have done for me!