Psalm 100: The Door Is Open
This is the psalm everyone knows, and perhaps for that reason the psalm almost no one truly hears. Five verses. No lament, no enemies, no crisis — just pure, unguarded, almost reckless joy. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands." Not all ye temples or all ye choirs, but all ye lands — the invitation is scandalously wide. And then comes the line that changes everything: "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." In a handful of words, the deepest anxiety of human existence is quietly resolved. You did not make yourself. You are not your own project. You are his people and the sheep of his pasture, which means someone else is doing the worrying about where the green grass is. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. Notice it does not say earn your way through his gates, or argue your way through, or sneak through when no one is looking. The gates are already open. You need only walk in singing.
00:00 A Joyful Noise unto the Lord