Reading: Psalm 100-102

QUESTIONS
  • The entirety of Psalm 100 is rooted in verse 5: “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Why are these things a good reason for what the psalmist describes earlier: joy, serving with gladness, singing, thanksgiving, and praise?
  • In Psalm 101 David describes his ruthless pursuit of justice and holiness as the king of Israel. Jesus does this in a greater way as our Heavenly King. How does Jesus deal with sin ruthlessly? Why do we need him to do this? Ask other mature Christians to help you think through this.
  • Psalm 102:10 says of the Lord “you have taken me up and thrown me down.” His hardship results from a purposeful, even violent, exertion of God’s power. How, then, can he still express such hope (13, 18) and glorious praise (25-28) before God?
DEVOTION

These are three great Psalms to have in your back pocket.  Psalm 100 sings of abundance; life is not random, we are not an accident, we are known, we are loved, we belong – “Know that the Lord is God!  It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:1). God wants us to find purpose, belonging, and fulfillment in him.  “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

God is good and is never failing; he is for all generations.  Psalm 101 moves us from singing to living with integrity, but what does that look like?  Psalm 101:3 says, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” What do you think David would scroll through on his Instagram or Facebook page?  David says that he “hates the work of those who fall away,” and that he will avoid slanderers and those who are haughty and arrogant.  Some of them he will even seek to destroy.

God has called you to do and to stand up for what is good.  Where and how will you serve him?  Know that the battle is the Lord’s and that Christ is the only one found worthy to conquer evil. Be used by God to seek good, dwell on good, and defend good.

But we know life is hard and sometimes overwhelming.  God knows this too and Psalm 102 speaks of this bitterness and sorrow.  In Psalm 102 David says that his “bones burn like a furnace.”  He is “like an owl in dessert.” His enemies taunt.  God knows that we feel that we might “wither away like grass” Psalm 102:11.

So what do we do?  Do we key that four-wheel drive like Carrie Underwood (Before He Cheats)? Go even further and Set Fire to the Rain (Adele) because her pain cries out their name?  Maybe we remove ourselves from life and go Back to Black like Amy Winehouse.  These contemporary singers know pain, but don’t have a lasting solution.  If they only knew that Christ, who came that we may live abundantly, knows this pain.  Even more so, he knows this pain because he took on this pain, he bears your pain, your sins and all that which is evil.  He said, “these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” John 15:11.  And how is this joy in us? Jesus says “I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning”  John 15:26-27.  So we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us and remind us of our joy, our purpose, our belonging.

Jesus knows this pain, sickness, brokenness, and death.  He knows that this world will “wear out like a garment.  You will change them as a robe and they will pass away” Psalm 102:26.  Christ will exchange your rags and clothe you in new fresh white garments (Revelation).  If you are in Christ, you will not be destroyed by pain and suffering but be transformed.  “The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you” Psalm 102:28.  So sing.  Sing for those before you who lived into this to tell you.  Sing today for your children and those who need to know of this abundance, “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” Psalm 100:5.

– John Holt