Enter With Thanksgiving (Psalm 100)
Posted on: 12.12.2022
Written by: Thomas Kilian III, Chaplain & Program Manager
The Bible says He is a powerful God. He is not to be fooled. He is not to be trifled with. He is God, and He is credible. You do not run up to God in any way you want. He is in a class all by Himself because he transcends all classes. God shallowed up nations and armies on the earth; when God fought, He fought with frogs, flies, and locusts. One group was fighting God, and He struck them with hemorrhoids. God will fight you with stuff you never thought about if you are against Him! You do not know who you are fooling with when you fight God. When you make Him mad, He will cover you with leprosy.
Simply put, you can not just run up to God as if He is just anybody. In scripture, you did not approach God in any kind of way, just like you did not "run" to an earthy king during biblical times.
King David learns something about God, the only King. In a rule that required the blood of bulls and goats, smoke, and ceremonial cleansing and washings, David found a spot in God that would enable him to come before God, without the bull, without the goat, without blood, without sacrifice, without smoke, without ceremonial cleansing; his hands were dirty, nothing had been sacrificed, and he made it all the way in the presence of God, without being killed! David tells us how he did it in an entrance psalm meant for private and public worship:
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
And into his courts with praise;
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting.
And his truth endureth to all generations."
- Psalm 100:4–5 (KJV)
David seems to be informing us that if you enter with thanksgiving, God will always let you into His throne room! He will not kill you if you are praising Him. So, praising is more than attitude, more than action; it is more than a profession. Praise is access! When you praise God, you gain access to the Lord.
David had moments when he was engaged in that search for the essence of faith in God, and he declared that God was more pleased with praise than sacrifice. His conclusion is recorded in Psalm 69:30–31:
“I will praise the name of God with song.
And magnify Him with thanksgiving.
And it will please the Lord better than an ox.
Or a young bull with horns and hoofs.”
Also, this passage is why it is written in Psalm 22:3…
"O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel."
When you begin to praise God, it takes you out of the natural into the spiritual. Then you can have access to God -- in Christ alone -- while you are driving a motorbike or in the harvest field. If you praise God, He will get into the motorbike with you. Praise is a form of prayer and communication with our divine Lord. And as Apostle Paul said, "be in consistent prayer" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
David had witnessed Moses’ tabernacle operating on one mountain. He also saw the ark of the covenant taken by the men of Abinadab. David was initially unable to access the ark of the covenant and eventually became able to bring the ark closer to Jerusalem in Obed-Edom (2 Samuel 6). The ark did not make it to Jerusalem as he had left it in Obed-Edom, having been discouraged. He was terrified to bring it any closure as he saw how a priest, Uzzah, had merely grabbed the ark of the covenant to catch it, and God struck him dead. So he left God’s presence alone with Obed-edom. But when he saw how blessed Obed-Edom was on account of God’s presence there, he went back, knocked at the door, and asked for the glory and presence of God. And he brought it back to Jerusalem.
Moses' tabernacle was placed on one mountain, with an outer-court and inner court, holy of most holies, brazen alter, brazen alter, candle sticks, showbread, and incense. Priests walked around, and a curtain, or a wall of fabric, was in between the holy place and the holy or most holies.
At this time of 2 Samuel 6, there is no ark in the tabernacle; however, people still go through ceremonies and sacrifices.
David, however, brings the ark, which symbolizes the presence of God, into a new space. King David is leaping and dancing before the ark as the ark is carried into the city. The ark is symbolic of God’s presence; therefore, the Lord is resting on David’s praise. David danced in a dimension that was so strong that his wife got embarrassed. Her attitude was as though she thought, "I thought I married a king, but you look like a fool; as a king should have some dignity, you ought to act like a king!"
But David was in a position; he might have looked like a fool, but he had the presence of God with him. Sometimes you have to look like a fool to have God’s presence in your life.
Let me show you what David did...
He brought the ark to Mount Zion. Put it up in a one-room tent. No brazen alter. No brazen laver. No candle sticks. No showbread. No, alter of incense. No curtain. Just a big open room. This was David’s tabernacle, David’s tent. He brought God’s presence into a room with nothing in it. No blood. No fire. No smoke. No sacrifice. No yearly ceremony of reparation for a wrong. Just a dance. One may say that "God left all religion for a dance."
Now, most of us know of Moses’ tent. And we need to know David’s tent as well. Because in David’s tent, all David did was have instruments of praise. All kinds of instruments to give thanks to God. No blood. No sacrifices. No ceremony. All of that was taken away. And David was able to access God through thanksgiving.
Ask Apostle Paul instructed the Church: "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," (Ephesians 5:19-20, ESV).
And Thessalonians 5:18: "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you," (ESV).
- AMEN
