Psalm 100 - "Louder"

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes life is even harder. Schedules and circumstances seem unbearable. But Psalm 100 gives us encouragement to praise the Lord through it all. This week has been trying in so many different ways including the schedule. The other night after dropping kids off from Bible school we picked up some groceries for a family going through a tough time and dropped them off. After dropping the groceries off we started home and the Lord blessed us with a gorgeous sunset. It was such a gift and reminded me just how much He loves us.

This morning He encouraged me to read Psalm 100. This Psalm encourages me to "worship the Lord with gladness" (verse 2). It also encourages me in verse 4 to "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." I like what Matthew Henry writes about this Psalm...

The matter of praise, and the motives to it, are very important. Know ye what God is in himself, and what he is to you. Know it; consider and apply it, then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious, in his worship. The covenant of grace set down in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, with so many rich promises, to strengthen the faith of every weak believer, makes the matter of God's praise and of his people's joys so sure, that how sad soever our spirits may be when we look to ourselves, yet we shall have reason to praise the Lord when we look to his goodness and mercy, and to what he has said in his word for our comfort.

My faith is strengthened through my praise to Him. It is strengthened through His promises in His Word along with the way He fulfill those promises in my life. I am comforted in knowing He loves me and is with me at all times. I am blessed in knowing He is my strength when life is hard. I am also blessed in knowing when I am at my weakest, His strength is the greatest. I must be less in order for Him to be more.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for these words of encouragement this morning. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for being so strong in the day that is ahead. Thank You for the strength You will empower me with in both my physical and mental bodies. More of You Lord and less of me will be the only way I will be able to get through this day. But Father I don't want to just get through this day. The desire of my heart is for people to see You in me. Fill me to overflowing. Thank You Jesus for being The One I Praise! Amen.