Psalm 100:1 “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.” Today, as I was doing my morning Bible reading, this passage was difficult for me to swallow. I am dealing with a disappointment, and I didn’t want to make a joyful noise. At all. Praise and worship person that I am, this morning, this passage was very uncomfortable for me.
And then 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing.” Boy, was THAT a blow! Huh? What? Now??
And then came conviction.
Because no matter how we feel, God is always worthy to be praised. And disappointment or no disappointment, He has the right to set the parameters for entering into His presence…And with the not-so-great attitude I had at the time, the thing I needed most (like it or not) was to get into His presence and get some direction about why my disappointment came, how to handle it and then to see what my next step would be.
So I went ahead and swallowed verses 1 & 2. Like an unwelcome but much needed pill.
Then the very next verse hit me between the eyes - “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
The fact is, He has made us. Every single human being on the planet received his/her life from God. He is the author of life. For believers, He is more than just our Maker. He is our Lord. Our Savior. Our Strength. Our Provider. Our Healer. Our Protector, and so much more. And He absolutely has the right to direct us because we belong to Him. Period.
I instantly began to feel like God was communicating to me through those scriptures, “Stop whining. Get over it. You have work to do. Come on up into My presence so you can learn and get what you need to succeed in your next step.”
Verse 4: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
In truth, the best way to come out of a stinky attitude is to begin praising God. When you begin to think about all the reasons you have to be thankful, and you start naming things one by one for thanksgiving, it’s pretty hard to keep that stinky attitude. As a matter of fact, if you do it long enough, you’ll go right into praise, just like the scripture says! You will get caught up in thankfulness and praise. And your stinky attitude will be history!
Then the last verse: “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” This brings it all together, doesn’t it? At the end of the day, we praise God because He IS good. Because His mercy IS always extended to us. And because He is the only source of real truth, which offers us real stability and comfort in these troubled times.
So! What do you do when you’re disappointed? Let Psalm 100 lead you. It’s a great path out of the doldrums and into God’s presence for wisdom, future instructions, joy and peace.
