Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
This Psalm has particular meaning to me. It is a beautiful Psalm of Thanksgiving to God. It is truth. It is from the scripture but it has even an extra layer of significance to me.
As a young mother, I wanted to teach my children about the things of God. My children listened to Sunday school song cassette tapes (I just aged myself). There was a daily Bible Story reading time. Pray at meals, bedtime and whenever I got a call from the church prayer chain. Yes, we used to call each other with prayer requests before we all had computers and cell phones. This was before facebook and twitter. The Stieff children started Awana Clubs at age three so scripture memory started young. When my second daughter was in kindergarten, she and her friend Brooke memorized Psalm 100. It was so wonderful for me to see my child putting a whole passage of scripture in her heart with her friend.
As you think about this Psalm, consider memorizing it with your children. What a great thing for this Thanksgiving season. Thanksgiving is something that is counter-intuitive to a person. Why not be pro-active in developing it by hiding God's Word in the heart of each member of the family!
