We can’t know God if we don’t know who he is. One of the most important things I have learned while learning to study the Bible is to come to scripture asking first and foremost, “What does this passage teach me about God?” After all, the Bible is the book to us from God about God. It is how he teaches us who he is.

Because this week we are celebrating Thanksgiving, I thought I would dig into Psalm 100 with you and see what it teaches us about God and how knowing those attributes should help us to serve him with gladness and thanksgiving.

Read Psalm 100 (ESV) and note the attributes of God it teaches us.

Psalm 100 – A Psalm for giving thanks.
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 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.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

1. Creator (v.3)
2. Shepherd (v.3)
3. King (v.4)
4. Good (v.5)
5. Loving (v.5)
6. Eternal (v.5)
7. Faithful (v.5)

In verses 1 and 2 we are invited to serve him. And not just serve him but serve him with gladness. One of the main ways God calls us to serve him is by serving others. My uncle, who is now in Heaven, once wrote that serving God and others is “the stuff of life”. Serving God shouldn’t be drudgery. But of course there are plenty of times when servings others is hard and it can be hard for many different reasons.

God doesn’t promise that serving Him will be easy, but it will bring our souls joy and gladness.

What do we do when serving him with gladness and gratitude feels hard, if not impossible? Focus on who he is!

In verse 3 we see that he is our creator. He made us and we belong to him. He is also our shepherd. This makes me think of the The New City Catechism question #1: “What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and in death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.”
That he made us and we belong to him and that he is our shepherd should bring us great hope which leads to gladness and thanksgiving.

In verses 4 and 5 we see that God is King, that he is good and loving, that he is eternal and he is faithful. All reasons to serve him with gladness.

Because HE is our creator, because we belong to HIM, because HE is king and sovereign, because HE is good, because HE loving, because HE is eternal and because HE is faithful we can enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, we can serve him with gladness and gratitude.

When we KNOW God and think on him and dwell on his attributes our love for him grows and so does our thanksgiving and praise.

Here is a list of Psalms of thanksgiving to read through this week. When you read be looking first and foremost for his attributes and what the Psalm is teaching you about God. Then say a prayer of thanksgiving for who he is!

• Psalm 30
• Psalm 34
• Psalm 66
• Psalm 92
• Psalm 103
• Psalm 116
• Psalm 118
• Psalm 136
• Psalm 138