“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5, ESV)

Our God is a God who turns problems to praise, who brings blessing from burdens. I wonder how seriously we hold the conviction in our heart that God really is good, that His steadfast love endures forever. This psalm pulls us back into perspective. Within it, the psalmist portrays the posture of praise that develops as a result of the way we know God and the way He knows us. Take a moment to consider the current condition of your heart. What spirit are you bringing to the Lord? What posture and perspective does your life reflect? The way we respond to life directly communicates what we believe about God. 

Our ability to enter into His presence with thanksgiving and praise comes only from His power within us. Often, we find that the cards we have been dealt could never warrant thanksgiving or praise. When we are beaten and burdened, the temptation of our flesh is to grow weak and weary. Without God, it would be impossible to truly take on challenges and tribulations with the spirit of thanksgiving in Psalm 100. Praise God that we are not left on our own! As this Psalm says, God created us intentionally, and in Him we find our purpose and place. There is much potential for us as Christians to communicate this message of hope through our response to our circumstances. 

These responses reveal the source of our confidence and hope. If our confidence is anywhere other than Christ, I fear we may never know what it is to have joy in all circumstances because all else is fickle and fleeting. Instead, God calls us into confidence in Christ. A firm foundation comes from deep knowledge and intimate relationship with our Father in Heaven. As His word says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence” (Jeremiah 17:7, NLT). In Christ we find peace and joy in places that could never be found in the world’s eyes. This is possible only in and through Christ as we come to understand who and whose we are. Our identity and destiny is secure in Christ. Therefore, the joy of the Lord can be found in all things because it is in Him that our hope is found. In no season can our situation destroy the promise and power of God. Instead, we can bear an eternal posture of praise because God’s promise is not dependent on us or this world. If you struggle to find joy, God may be calling you to stop looking around and start looking up. 

As we learn to look up, let us enter into prayer. Prayer is God’s pathway to help us cultivate this posture of praise. There is a reason we find Paul imploring us to pray without ceasing. When you confront the demands of your day, are you quick to invite God to guide, strengthen, and work in you? I heard it once said that life is like being in the boxing ring. We will get hit. We will fall down. But when we find life in the Lord, we find Him in our corner, ready and willing to give us the strength, endurance, and encouragement we need to always get back up. Our fight is fixed, for our Father in Heaven has already declared victory—praise be to God! Knowing that God has already won, our souls find rest. In all things, we can find joy. Thus, our joy is not dependent on anything other than the constant character and complete promise of Christ that will never fail or falter. Let us make joyful noise, serve with gladness, and come into His presence with thanksgiving and praise! 

May this be the posture of prayer for you this week. As you grow in faith with the Father, may you enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise, because you know He is who He says He is.