The church that I attend has people from different cultures sharing together in worship. It makes for a rich and vibrant experience. Perhaps a foretaste of heaven (Revelation 7:9). 

This psalm reminds us that such worship has always been part of God’s plan. It starts with a call for all the earth to ‘shout for joy’ to God (v 1). No holding back in praise here! Nor limiting of worship to Israel alone. God our creator and shepherd deserves it (v 3).  

Note then the command to enter God’s gates and courts that we might praise him (v 4). How amazing that all have access to God’s presence. Why such praise? Surely there is nothing less that we can give to a God who is good and loving, ever faithful to his people (v 5).  

What a witness to the world! God’s people from all nations expressing their worship with exuberant praise and inexpressible joy. 

Is this a picture of your church? If not, what might you do to begin to make a start? 

‘Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.’¹

This psalm was probably sung by God’s people as they entered the Temple gates ‘where the pilgrim crosses from the zone of the profane into the sacred precincts of the Temple’.² The psalm is structured around the imperatives ‘Shout for joy … Worship the Lord … come before him … Know … Enter … give thanks … praise’. The word ‘know’ (see v 3) is powerful, carrying the sense of acknowledging and experiencing God, not just knowing about him. The tone of the occasion is striking – ‘joy, gladness, joyful’. Worshipping God is a privilege, not a chore. As Anderson writes, joy ‘is not an optional extra, but the right mood that befits the blessings which God bestows upon his people’.³ While we can and should worship God as individuals, there is a special blessing in the shared experience of corporate thanksgiving and worship.

Note the paradox of Israel being God’s chosen people yet all nations being invited, even summoned, to worship their Creator. Just as Peter needed to learn that ‘God does not show favouritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him’,⁴ so it would have been a surprise for the Israelites to see God call the nations to worship him. It reinforces the point that the Israelites in Joshua’s time needed to learn, that the Lord alone is God.

The psalm gives abundant reasons why we should worship God. He is the Creator; we are his people; he is good and loving and always will be. Goodness ‘is the very essence of God’s nature’⁵ and the reliability of his grace and faithfulness is a major reason why we should be joyful in our response to God. A further reason for joy is the mind-blowing thought that we, sinful as we are, have been invited into the presence of this God who is wholly good.

Be intentional in the coming week about seeing everything you do as an opportunity to ‘worship the Lord with gladness’.

¹ Ps 150:1,2  ² Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms, WW Norton, 2007, p349  ³ Anderson, p698  ⁴ Acts 10:34,35, TNIV  ⁵ Weiser, 1962, p647