A Thankful Heart

Have you ever had that moment where you have a noisy neighbor? But not that angry noise, rather that noise of jubilation and joy, as if they are having a party with everyone in the area…except you?

The bass creeps through your walls, penetrates into your head, you feel it in the walls and you, unlike your neighbors, begin to experience irritation that leads to anger.

You know what I am talking about? Maybe you have been to that party, where there is loud music, fun, dancing and all awesome food that you are not supposed to eat.

Maybe if you were invited, you might not be so irritated and thinking about calling the cops.

Of course an invitation is not always enough to remove your irritation, you need to show up. That makes all the difference, actually showing up and participating.

Now, here is something that you may not know. For the ancient near eastern person, they were mindful of the “noise” they made because, previously, it had led to a great and terrible punishment by the gods.

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In the late 1800’s, some artifacts were discovered, written in Akkadian, that recorded a creation myth and flood account. It was one of three surviving Babylonian flood stories. There is a protagonist, Atrahasis, for whom this one account is named. Atra-Hasis is a figure that appears in Sumerian kings lists. So, this is a well known figure in the ancient near east.

Interesting thing about this version of the creation and flood story is the gods face a different problem than in other stories. The humans are overrunning the earth, overpopulation. This problem is referred to specifically as the “Noise of humankind.” Apparently we are being so noisy, the gods cannot sleep or rest.

So, they bring about a flood to wipe out most of the humans, so the gods can sleep. By the way, what kind of god are you that you cannot sleep? But I digress. After the flood, the gods institute new steps to keep the humans from causing this “noise” problem again. In this new world order the gods include: 1) human infertility (women who cannot bear children), 2) infant mortality (baby snatching demons) and 3) social institutions that forbade women from marrying.

Now, when you hear this you might think, “that is crazy, that is not real!”

But ask yourself this, have you ever thought that God gets irritated at your noisy life? If you were to have a party, inviting your friends over, turn up some music and dancing, that if God showed up he would just turn off the stereo?

What I hope is happening to you, is that you are stopping to think about how you see God and how he interacts with your life, how you approach God and what you really think about this relationship.

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Would you be interested to know, that God is not like that at all?

If fact, this particular poem we are looking at today would have stood in stark contrast to the story that a Babylonian would have heard. Rather than their gods wanting peace and quiet, Yahweh seems to enjoy a noisy human!

Let’s look at this Poem this morning and see if we can use it as a mirror to examine how we think about God and what he expects from us.

Psalm 100 shows a side of Yahweh that is in stark contrast to the other gods.

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1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Imagine serving another god, and you believe the gods brought a flood to kill humans because they were noisy, and then reading this about this God, Yahweh.

The word combination in Hebrew is to shout, raise an alarm, cry out as loud as you can!

It is the kind of noise that would make neighbors complain, it is the type of noise that would make your neighbors complain, it is the type of noise that your enemies would worry about. And that is something to think about.

It is hard to bring you down and intimidating to those who want to bring you down will think twice when you bring a positive attitude, shouting with joy in all you do.

More than that, Yahweh wants this noise!

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2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Imagine, again, you have been serving foreign gods, and this God, Yahweh, is not only exited about your party, he is asking you to bring the singing, shouting and joy into his sacred space!

Have you ever really thought about this? Think about what this means for you.

Too often we find too little to celebrate, but there is so much to celebrate. Yahweh has invited you to to his presence. That alone is a lot to celebrate!

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3 Know that the LORD, he is God!

That is the point of this whole poem of thanksgiving. Knowing Yahweh, that he is God.

But more than that, God has invited us to be associated with HIm, in every way.

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3 It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Can I be frank here? For the “every word is literal crowd”, is God saying we are actual sheep? Of course not, this is that same shepherd imagery that is meant to convey we are meant to exist in his good land, the land that is Sabbath blessed, following Him where he goes and lacking nothing.

Note though, it is “His Pasture.” It is his sacred space that we are meant to occupy.

So, come in through the gate, and don’t come “sheepishly”!

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4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

The gates, the entry to the pasture, the courts, where the divine council sites, where the host of heaven resides, to the very throne and presence of Yahweh.

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5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

The LORD is good, and that means that when we are not existing or partaking in what is “good”, then we find ourselves on the outside. And being on the outside is not a pleasant place to be.

Look at this language again:

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Come into his presence with singing

Come into his pasture

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

Enter his courts with praise

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Here is a question: how often are you waiting for God to come to you?

Consider that question in light of what has just been described in this poem. Where is the action in this Psalm? On the person, on the human being. God has invited us into his pasture, to his presence to his courts, essentially anywhere He is, to join Him. And the manner in which we are to do that is with noise, music, joy, singing, gladness, thanksgiving. That seems to be the secret code, so to speak.

There is a time to seek God in lament, in a time of mourning or sadness. But that is not the only time we should do that.

We seem to have this sense that when things are difficult, that is when we go to the Lord, and we are not noisy, or glad, but sad, hurt and confused. And in those moments, we want a quiet place, solitude with God.

That can cloud our judgement on when to seek out the presence of Yahweh. While Yahweh is the place to be for prayer, meditation, reflection and healing, He is also the place to be in times of celebration and joy.

Some days it feels good to know you are a child in the kingdom of God, and when you want to celebrate that, Yahweh welcomes it!

As the poet and author of this Psalm is trying to point out, we should have no hesitation to enter the gates with a thankful heart, even in the worst of times, it is a great thing to be able to seek the presence of God!

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