DAILY DEVOTIONAL – September 16, 2020
“Enter”
Prayer: Faithful God, through the blood of Your Son Jesus who bore the full weight of Your wrath and frustration against our brokenness and sins and failures, You have graciously made us Your people. Help us, in Your mercy, to remember who You have made us to be and who we will be forever, in Christ. Amen.
Scripture: Psalm 100
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.
Devotional – “Enter”
“When it rains, it pours.” “Bad things come in threes.” “Misery loves company.” “And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…”
These are just a few of the common phrases and expressions that communicate something I think we have all experienced. It’s never just one thing that goes wrong. It’s never just that one easy setting on your computer that fixes it. It’s never just that one cheap part they have in stock that is needed to fix your car. It’s never just one representative you have to be transferred to in order to have your account problems resolved. It’s never just one unexpected and inconvenient mishap or breakdown that happens in the routine of life…is it?
It has been one of those kind of weeks for me. Nothing truly catastrophic or serious went wrong. Everything that has gone wrong has been or is able to be fixed, but it sure seems like everything that could have gone wrong at home and work, has gone wrong. In one of my moments of frustration, I opened a devotional I have written by Luther that goes through the Psalms, and the next devotional text that was assigned for today was Psalm 100, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord…serve the Lord with gladness.” In all honesty, my first thought was, “tough to do right now Lord.” Then I kept reading. “Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his.” My next thought was, “Sorry, Lord.”
I don’t think I am alone in confessing how easily and too quickly a lot of small problems seem to stifle the joy and gladness we can have and do have when everything is falling apart. One thing, the most important thing, will never fail or fall apart or breakdown or ever be compromised; God’s reign in and over our lives as the children He has made us to be eternally through His One perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
Working through the rest of my day today, I tried to keep Psalm 100 at the forefront of my mind. Truth be told, there were a lot of things still not going well and every time one fire was put out another ember seemed to start a fire somewhere else, but verse 4 of Psalm 100 kept going through my head, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!” About the third or fourth time, the gravity of that very first word of verse four hit me, and my frustration with all that was going on subsided. “Enter.” That’s not just God’s invitation to you and to me, it is His command to me, to us, as the people He has made us to be; His people. “Enter into His gates” because they have been opened to us in and through Jesus our Lord.
It’s hard to imagine with this feeble and easily frustrated mind of mine, but one day, very soon, even I, even you my friends, will hear those blessed words that do in fact give us joy no matter what. “Enter. Well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master.” – Matthew 25:21. Only because of our Lord and Master Jesus, the Faithful Suffering Servant who worked salvation for us freely through His death and resurrection, are we God’s people and we will enter His Kingdom.
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotion, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
