Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

• Psalm 100:1-5

Type of Psalm

Psalms of thanksgiving for God’s goodness to good people:  Giving God thanks as noted.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“It is with good reason that many sing this psalm very frequently in their religious assemblies, for it is very proper both to express and to excite pious and devout affections towards God in our approach to him in holy ordinances; and, if our hearts go along with the words, we shall make melody in it to the Lord. The Jews say it was penned to be sung with their thank-offerings; perhaps it was; but we say that as there is nothing in it peculiar to their economy so its beginning with a call to all lands to praise God plainly extends it to the gospel-church. Here, I. We are called upon to praise God and rejoice in him, ver. 1, 2, 4. II. We are furnished with matter for praise; we must praise him, considering his being and relation to us (ver. 3) and his mercy and truth, ver. 5. These are plain and common things, and therefore the more fit to be the matter of devotion.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 100:2 “Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads” (Isa. 35:10). Since ancient times, in the Christian church, acedia­ sadness of heart, resignation -has been considered a mortal sin. ‘Serve the Lord with gladness!’ (Ps. 100:2 RSV), urges the Scripture. For this, our life has been given to us, and for this, it has been sustained for us to this present hour. The joy that no one can take from us belongs not only to those who have been called home, but also to us who are still living. In this joy we are one with them, but never in sadness. How are we supposed to be able to help those who are without joy and courage, if we ourselves are not borne by courage and joy? What is meant here is not something made or forced, but something given and free. With God there is joy, and from him it comes down and seizes spirit, soul, and body. And where this joy has seized a person, it reaches out around itself, it pulls others along, it bursts through closed doors. There is a kind of joy that knows nothing at all of the pain, distress, and anxiety of the heart. But it cannot last; it can only numb for a time. The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore it is invincible and irrefutable.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

My Thoughts

This psalm is not attributed to any author.

Shout for Joy and worship with gladness.

We should be thankful, praising God, for His love endures forever.

The psalmist covers all the praise and adoration points in very few words.

Psalm 101

I will sing of your love and justice;
    to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
    when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
    with a blameless heart.
I will not look with approval
    on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
    I will have no part in it.
The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
    I will have nothing to do with what is evil.
Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,
    I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
    I will not tolerate.
My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
    that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless
    will minister to me.
No one who practices deceit
    will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
    will stand in my presence.
Every morning I will put to silence
    all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
    from the city of the Lord.

• Psalm 101:1-8

Type of Psalm

Didactic psalms: These psalms are psalms that are intended to teach.  In most cases the psalm instructs us in moral principles.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“David was certainly the penman of this psalm, and it has in it the genuine spirit of the man after God’s own heart; it is a solemn vow which he made to God when he took upon him the charge of a family and of the kingdom. Whether it was penned when he entered upon the government, immediately after the death of Saul (as some think), or when he began to reign over all Israel, and brought up the ark to the city of David (as others think), is not material; it is an excellent plan or model for the good government of a court, or the keeping up of virtue and piety, and, by that means, good order, in it: but it is applicable to private families; it is the householder’s psalm. It instructs all that are in any sphere of power, whether larger or narrower, to use their power so as to make it a terror to evil-doers, but a praise to those that do well. Here is, I. The general scope of David’s vow, ver. 1, 2. II. The particulars of it, that he would detest and discountenance all manner of wickedness (ver. 3-5, 7, 8) and that he would favour and encourage such as were virtuous, ver. 6. Some think this may fitly be accommodated to Christ, the Son of David, who governs his church, the city of the Lord, by these rules, and who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. In singing this psalm families, both governors and governed, should teach, and admonish, and engage themselves and one another to walk by the rule of it, that peace may be upon them and God’s presence with them.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 101:3 ” ‘I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.’ If I have wicked­ ness brought before me by others, I will turn away from it; I will not gaze upon it with pleasure. The psalmist is very sweeping in his resolve; he declines the least, the most reputable, the most customary form of evil-any wicked thing. It shall not dwell not only in his heart but not even before his eyes, for what fascinates the eye is very apt to gain admission into the heart, even as Eve’s apple first pleased her sight and then prevailed over her mind and hand. ‘I hate the work of those who fall away.’ He was warmly against it; he viewed it not with indifference but with utter scorn and abhorrence. Hatred of sin is a good sentinel for the door of virtue. There are persons in courts who walk in a very crooked way, leaving the high road of integrity, and these, by shortcuts, twists, and turns, are often supposed to accomplish work for their masters that simple, honest hearts are not competent to undertake. But David would not employ such; he would pay no secret-service money, and he loathed the practices of people who deviate from righteousness.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

This psalm describes an upright life.

It says what it takes to be blameless.  He will shun vile things, hate the faithless, stay away from anything evil, silence slanderers, no tolerance for arrogance, not allow deceit.

But he will welcome the faithful and the blameless.

Early in the morning the wicked and the evildoer will be cut off from the city.

Psalm 102

Hear my prayer, Lord;
    let my cry for help come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
    when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
    when I call, answer me quickly.
For my days vanish like smoke;
    my bones burn like glowing embers.
My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
    I forget to eat my food.
In my distress I groan aloud
    and am reduced to skin and bones.
I am like a desert owl,
    like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake; I have become
    like a bird alone on a roof.
All day long my enemies taunt me;
    those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
For I eat ashes as my food
    and mingle my drink with tears
because of your great wrath,
    for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
My days are like the evening shadow;
    I wither away like grass.
But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
    your renown endures through all generations.
You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
    for it is time to show favor to her;
    the appointed time has come.
For her stones are dear to your servants;
    her very dust moves them to pity.
The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
For the Lord will rebuild Zion
    and appear in his glory.
He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
    he will not despise their plea.
Let this be written for a future generation,
    that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
    from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners
    and release those condemned to death.”
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
    and his praise in Jerusalem
when the peoples and the kingdoms
    assemble to worship the Lord.
In the course of my life he broke my strength;
    he cut short my days.
So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
    your years go on through all generations.
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.
The children of your servants will live in your presence;
    their descendants will be established before you.”

• Psalm 102:1-28

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Penitential psalms:  Penitential psalms relate to penitence, but more specifically confession.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“Some think that David penned this psalm at the time of Absalom’s rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some other prophet, penned it for the use of the church, when it was in captivity in Babylon, because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion and of a time set for the rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood by books, Dan. 9:2. Or perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he complains of in the beginning of the psalm, but (as in Ps. 77:1-20 and elsewhere) he comforts himself under it with the consideration of God’s eternity, and the church’s prosperity and perpetuity, how much soever it was now distressed and threatened. But it is clear, from the application of ver. 102:25, 26, to Christ (Heb. 1:10-12), that the psalm has reference to the days of the Messiah, and speaks either of his affliction or of the afflictions of his church for his sake. In the psalm we have, I. A sorrowful complaint which the psalmist makes, either for himself or in the name of the church, of great afflictions, which were very pressing, ver. 1-11. II. Seasonable comfort fetched in against these grievances, 1. From the eternity of God, ver. 12, 24, 27. 2. From a believing prospect of the deliverance which God would, in due time, work for his afflicted church (ver. 13-22) and the continuance of it in the world, ver. 28. In singing this psalm, if we have not occasion to make the same complaints, yet we may take occasion to sympathize with those that have, and then the comfortable part of this psalm will be the more comfortable to us in the singing of it.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 102:18 “ ‘This will be written for the generation to come.’ The psalmist here intends to say that the rebuilding of Jerusalem would be a fact in history for which the Lord would be praised from age to age. Revivals of religion not only cause great joy to those who are immediately concerned in them, but they give encouragement and delight to the people of God long after. They are indeed perpetual incentives to adoration throughout the church of God. This verse teaches us that we ought to have an eye to posterity, and especially should we endeavor to perpetuate the memory of God’s love to His church and to His poor people, so that young people as they grow up may know that the Lord God of their parents is good and full of compassion. The praise of God should be the great object of all that we do, and to secure Him a revenue of glory both from the present and the future is the noblest aim of intelligent beings.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is not attributed to any author.

The psalmist pleads with God and asks God to hear his plea.

The next nine verses are a barrage of metaphors to say how put upon the psalmist is.  In verse 3, he is smoke and embers, and by verse 9, he is eating ashes.

The next eleven verses praise God, the ruler over all nations.  And then the prophecy that God will rebuild Jerusalem and future generations, not yet born, will praise God.  The people will hear the cry of the destitute.

And the psalm ends with God’s eternity.  God will go on forever, but each generation will pass away.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Psalm 100

“1. Which of the six reasons most motivates you to praise. God? Which is the least exciting?
“2. Is your expression of joy too limited? Too private? Do you need the freedom to have a more joyful life?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 101

“1. How do you feel about the level of ethics in the government of your country? How would you feel if this psalm were adopted as a credo and lived?
“2. Where do your ethics need a boost: (a) Talking about others? (b) Looking at others with respect? (c) Speaking less than the truth?
“3. What makes an effective leader according to this psalm? How does one earn the right to lead? Is it really all right? In what ways are you a leader? What diet Jesus have to say about leadership (see Lk 22:24-26)?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 102

“1. Would the story of your spiritual life be beneficial to future generations? Or should you be forgotten? Why?
“2. Are you afflicted, depressed, alone or distressed in any way? Do you feel free to express it to God? A special friend? The group? Or do you bear it all alone? How can the group help you keep your faith alive? What is your prayer in your distress?
“3. Does the group know of someone whose physical suffering has been worsened by the sting of loneliness? By feeling punished by God? What could you do to alleviate that situation?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for each of these psalms.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.