Making Joy-filled Noise
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
This is another reflection on Psalm 100 and as I stated in an earlier post, I believe it will help us start our day or start our project. It holds the secret to developing the ability to get going in goods ways and in right directions.
Let’s begin by once again reading it through. It’s only five verses.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
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.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalms 100 (ESV).
It begins with an instruction. It tells us to do something. To make noise. Now if it’s early in the morning and you live with others it may not be wise when others are sleeping to shout at the top of your lungs. In fact here is some wise advice from Proverbs on the matter.
A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!
Proverbs 27:14 (NLT)
I suggest going where you can make noise quietly. Headphones can provide noise but I think it’s better if the noise comes out of us. It is a way of establishing the fact that we are here right now and alive. Just saying, “Good morning Lord” in your gravelly morning voice as your first utterance of the day qualifies as noise. Humming works as well.
But what makes noise joyful?
To me the answer is reason. There is thought behind the noise regardless anyone’s ability to make a beautiful sound. In fact this is the big difference between having joy and being happy. The reasons for joy are deeper and come up from inside our souls where decisions are made. Joy is linked to the will. Happiness is surface and a response to external circumstances. It isn’t wrong to be happy. I like it when I am both, but if I have to choose, I want joy all the time and I can accept the reality I won’t always be happy.
After joyful noise making we are called to serve the Lord with gladness. How do we do this?
The short and hard answer is we serve people in his name. Recall what Jesus said in Matthew 25 describing what will happen to one of the two groups of people he labels as sheep and goats. Talking about the sheep l-people he says
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
Matthew 25:40 (NLT)
So we make noise, we serve, and thirdly, we come into his presence singing. How do we do that? I have a no-brainer, easy way. We go to church. We sing together and we focus on learning more.
Finally, let me show you a pattern in this psalm and then you can take it from there.
The verses move back and forth between instructions and reasons why the instructions make sense.
First Instructions:
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Here are the reasons why this makes sense.
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.
More instructions to make more noise as we continue celebrating the life God gave us.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
And in conclusion, here is why we should be upbeat and celebrate all we have been called to do.
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Now go take on this day.
Very excellent! Thanks Ben!