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.
(Psalm 100 ESV, emphasis mine)
I just read Psalm 100 in my God time and I am grieved by the lack of number definition in English. Like I said yesterday in “I Hate You”, in every other language, number is clearly defined. I am growing in my sensitivity of the singular and plural imperatives (commands) in the Psalms.
In Psalm 100 all the words that I have bolded are second person plural imperatives. This means: “y’all make a joyful noise…y’all serve…y’all come…y’all know…y’all enter…y’all give thanks…y’all bless His Name!”
This is a communal Psalm. It is not an individual Psalm of praise to our Most High God. It is the cry of my heart that we will all read this Psalm and make a joyful noise to the Lord together! I know that I repeatedly tell my mom and Nathan they cannot sing; however, I KNOW the Lord wants to hear them and I KNOW that the Lord wants to hear y’all as well. So, let us lift our voices, let us serve Him, coming into His presence. I am so thankful that we are NOT alone on this journey! I am so thankful that God has given us Himself and each other! Love and blessings to you dear reader, thank you for your time!
Father, thank You for the gift of Yourself. Thank You that we are able to enter into Your presence individually and corporately. Thank You Jesus that You are our great High Priest and that it is in Your Name that we are able to come before the Father in the power of the Spirit. Triune God, make us sensitive to what is “you” and what is “you all”! Make us sensitive that when we fish for people, we are to cast a LARGE net, not just fish for person. Lord, You have wired us for community and You have wired us to long for You personally. Help us to be a people whose vertical relationship with You overflows in the way we horizontally love and live with others. Thank You Lord that your steadfast love (hesed) endures forever! In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.
Blue Collar Theologian 
I attended a Sunday school class at our relatively new church (We just moved to Louisville a few years ago.) that was about worship. I had attended churches before where during the singing the lights were turned down everywhere except the platform, and I had thought it was a pretty good idea – to keep us focused on God and not distracted by one another. But in this class we were taught that the reason they keep the lights up at this church is because we SHOULD see one another worshiping together, as the Body of Christ, to promote unity. I can understand both viewpoints, but think I like the latter one a little better. ❤
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Hi Ann!!!! Thank you for sharing this!!! My church dims the lights for worship and have to say, I agree with your latter statement as well!!!! Again, thank you for sharing this, it is a divine perspective! Love and blessings, Mandy
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Excellent. Thanks for the insight.
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Thank you for reading!!
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“y’all ” good catch Mandy! Amen.
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Hi, Gary!! Thank you for reading!! Blessings, Mandy
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