A Joyful Noise

Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the LORD! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we are His — His people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the LORD is good, and His faithful love endures forever; His faithfulness, through all generations.

Psalm 100 (CSV)

For some reason the first line of this translation just resonates so much better with me than the “joyful noise” that I’ve read and heard most of my life. If you’ve ever heard the roar of a stadium as a long and hard fought goal is scored or a concert as the fans’ favorite artist takes the stage, that seems to be a glimpse of what is called for here – that all of creation together raises a triumphant shout of joy to the LORD!! A “holy roar” as it has been expressed in song. It makes me wonder why Sunday morning worship can tend to be so un-exuberantly refined and civilized at times.

There’s more, of course – that opening line cannot be taken in isolation. The psalmist proceeds to build both the approach and the argument for bringing us to this triumphant shout. First, the constancy of serving the LORD with gladness is a purposeful foundation that keeps our eyes fixed on Him as we give of ourselves in love – whether we’re feeling it or not. Second, we need to intentionally seek to enter into God’s presence. This is more than just showing up at church on Sunday morning in time to socialize and grab a seat – or giving just a momentary pause here and there during the rest of our daily and weekly busyness to give Him a nod or quick prayer. Any human relationship that we value requires the investment of time and attention to build depth and intimacy, particularly a marriage – how much more this divine marriage?

And although the focus of this psalm is joyful thanksgiving, we don’t dismiss or ignore hardships and burdens and suffering – rather, we recognize that all that is answered and given its proper perspective when we fully acknowledge Who the LORD is… He is our Creator, our God, our Shepherd, our faithful Lover Who never relents… ever! As we behold the LORD, mere words are not sufficient and our minds can only begin to comprehend all that our souls bear witness to in His presence and anointing.

So, in anticipation of worshipping together on Sunday morning, let’s prepare ourselves faithfully each and every day. We might even have a triumphant shout of praise spontaneously burst forth that’ll wake the neighbors – or whoever’s next to us at church. Now that will be a joyful noise!