Blogging the Psalms

Blogging the Psalms -- Psalm 100

Psalm 100

The Psalmist declares, “It is He that has made us and not we ourselves.”

There is no such thing as a self-made person. Their parents did not make them either. Our health, our wealth, our genes, all come from the great source. We need to understand that. Neither can we sustain ourselves. God made and sustains the world. The word He spoke from the beginning of Creation has the power to continue to uphold the world even though God has rested from creating. All the physical, biological, genetic, spiritual laws that he set in place still endure and work by His word. 

When we understand this, we understand that we are the sheep of the Creator of the whole world. How can one not trust the One who knows how the world was made? And if we have such a great Creator, why are we too proud to be taken care of?

People often say “The Lord helps those who helps themselves.” They say this because often the puritan ethic equates self-sufficiency with weakness.  But this slogan needs a qualifier. Even those who “help themselves” are guided by the wisdom of God, because they are given strength to live by God. And while it is true that God doesn’t want his people to be lazy, neither does He want his people to be self-reliant. 

Humans are judgmental and we want to believe that if someone has had trouble then that person somehow deserved it or didn’t “help himself.” If we know that the troubled person has indeed “helped himself” then we often say that God in His sovereignty brought the evil in their lives to teach them. If the person is someone we consider “bad,” we say his troubles are “the wages of sin,” lack of proper planning, society’s fault of plain bad luck. Platitudes, slogans, and maxims are human wisdom; they aren’t an answer in all the situations we humans get into.

But God is good, He is very accessible to those who trust in Him, and He is desirous of our trust in Him. Yet, our human minds are so estranged from God that we don’t see His Fatherly care. And sometimes we are like little children who are proud of doing something “all by themselves” and who feel we have to prove ourselves to our Father. 

In all things, we must come to God and understand His mercy and love. “God is good. All the time.”

1Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3Know 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.

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.