Entering His Gates

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” Psalm 100:4

Part of my daily practice is to pray the daily office. Wesley encouraged Methodist pastors to adopt this practice when establishing the movement. Central to the daily office is reading through the psalms every month. Although the office includes Old and New Testament readings, the psalms are integral to prayer.

As I have read through the psalms over and over again, they remind me of all the emotions that we can feel about God and life. Some psalms speak to the deep longing we have for a relationship with God. There are psalms of confession. Some psalms ask God to get rid of our enemies. But many of the psalms are psalms of praise. Praise and thanksgiving are important to the psalmists. Yes, we need to confess our sin and cry out to the Lord when it seems hopeless. However, we ground our faith by praising God and giving him thanks.

Psalm 100 is one of those psalms. Many psalms were written by David; however, the author of Psalm 100 is unknown. Although it is only five verses, there is much that the psalmist says. We are to shout with joy and worship the Lord. Why? Because he is God. He has made us, and we belong to him. We enter his gates with thanksgiving because God is good. He has unfailing, eternal love for us. He is always faithful.

How thankful are we for what the Lord has done for us? We can get caught up in the daily grind of life and miss what God is doing around us because we focus so much on the ways life has disappointed us. These are real. Many psalms speak to those disappointments. But when they become central, we lose sight of God's goodness and faithfulness.

I want to encourage you to look for God working beyond your disappointments. Every morning, enter his gates with thanksgiving in your heart.

There was a song we used to sing all the time growing up with the following lines:

I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart.

I will enter His courts with praise.

I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice, for He has made me glad.

Let this be your prayer today and every day.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael