In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena has a line while speaking to Hermia that says, “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” I think of that line when I read Psalm 100. Five short verses, but those five verses pack quite a punch. As it opens, the whole earth shouts triumphantly to the Lord, inviting us to serve Him with gladness and to come before Him with joyful singing. Then, it gives us the reason why we sing: “Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we are His.” Before we bring anything before the Lord, we must first remember that we belong to Him.

Over and over again we’ve traced this story back to where it all began. In Genesis 2 God placed man in the garden “to work it and watch over it.” The word translated “work” there comes from the same Hebrew verb in Psalm 100 when it says to “serve the LORD with gladness.” From the very beginning, human beings were made to serve God with joy in His presence. Sin, however, turned that service into toil, and we found ourselves driven out from the garden itself.

Then, in verse 4, we find a phrase that stands in stark contrast to the Cherubim guarding the entrance to Eden, preventing them from any sort of return. It says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” For Israel, those were the gates of the temple, the place where God’s presence dwelt among His people. But that invitation rings even deeper for you and me. The way back to God’s presence is open once again. Not because we’ve fought our way past the guards, but because Jesus opened a new and living way through His own flesh. Through Him, the wandering sheep are brought back into the pasture of the Good Shepherd.

So, we end our week where the redemption story itself ends: with God’s people back in His presence, doing what they were made to do all along. We aren’t fully there yet, and we still worship with tired bodies in a world that groans for rescue, but every time we gather to sing, and every time we give thanks in the middle of some plain old ordinary day, we’re walking through those gates, rehearsing for the day when Eden’s joy fills the whole earth.

Psalm 100 gives us a reason that never grows old: “For the LORD is good, and His faithful love endures forever; His faithfulness, through all generations.” The One who made us is also the Redeemer who restores us.

Come on in! We’ve got some Thanksgiving to offer.

If you intentionally turned your work and service from duty to gladness this week, how do you think that would impact your mood and your mind? What is one specific thing you can thank God for as you enter His presence today?

Father, You made me, and I am wholly Yours. Thank you that through Jesus the way into Your presence is open again. Turn my service from grudging duty to gladness and joy. Fill my mouth with thanksgiving and praise instead of complaint and whining. Keep me remembering that You are good and Your faithful love endures forever … until the day when all creation is home again with You. Amen.

“Today I want to enter God’s presence with thanksgiving for __________________.”