Our Daily Bread Designs Bible Verse Thursday Challenge #42 - Singing with Abandon

Psalm 100

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;
    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.

This is such a short little Psalm, I couldn’t pick just one verse this week.  The four verses which make up this little psalm, pack a punch.  And, because these four verses are so rich and deep, there are so many things that can be said about them.  But, one thing that speaks to me, these days, is the imploring to come before God.

Come before his presence with a song
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
go into his courts with praise

This great psalm calls upon us all—all lands—to approach God. We’re to come near.  And, we’re to come near with joy.  With a song.  I’m a musician – so a song is my thing.  I often feel closer to the Lord when I’m singing than any other time.  Even when I pray – I would rather sing the prayer (and I often do).

I remember when my nieces and nephew were at that age where, without prompting, they want to sing a song. We’d be sitting in the family room, and they would say, “I want to sing a song for you!”  Now, sometimes they wanted to sing a song they’d learned in school, or Sunday School. Sometimes they’d wanted to sing a song they’d heard on a movie or TV show and then, sometimes, they’d say they wanted to sing a song, we’d give them the “go ahead,” and they’d start making something up on the spot.  Those are the best.

They asked to sing for no other reason than they want to make a song, and make a song for us. They want to bring us joy, and they want to experience the joy on our faces.  I think that’s very close to what the psalmist is getting at here.

We’re to come before the Presence of God—who has made us, and we are his—and we’re to sing him a song. Maybe it’s a song we know. Maybe it’s another psalm. Maybe it’s one of the great hymns of the church.

But…maybe…it’s one we just make up on the spot. That barely rhymes. A song that doesn’t even fully resolve.  And is out of key.  But, nonetheless, a song that is sung with pure joy by a sheep of the pasture of God—in His Presence, square in the middle of one of his courts.

Now, that’s good stuff! THAT’S what a relationship with God looks like—a relationship full of self-abandon and joy.

And why?
For the Lord is good,
his mercy is everlasting,
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.


I’ll leave you today with one of my favorite songs from Third Day:

Sing your praises to the Lord.  Sing with abandon!

Your challenge this week is to create a project using this scripture or another verse that describes the joy of singing to the Lord.  When uploading your project, please use keyword ODBDBVT42 and then hop over to Our Daily Bread Designs Forum to share your creation with us!

Blessings,