Lifting up and changing direction

I'm calling it my “threshold psalm.” I opened to it just a few minutes into the New Year after watching the ball drop in Times Square. It was just the two of us at home, not like the old days in Alaska. That was a party.

Lots of people over — fresh seafood on the menu; two boxes full that year our friend was just off the crab boat. There were fireworks — our girls worked the stand for New Year's and got a good deal— as well as table games, and rifle shots into the air at midnight while we stood on the deck counting down.

Though it couldn't have been more different, this quiet New Year's held something I needed — the discovery of Psalm 100. I've got it memorized now; it's only a few lines, but they pack a power.

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 

Serve the Lord with gladness. 

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God; 

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; 

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 lovingkindness is everlasting, 

And His faithfulness to all generations.”

Say this every day and see if it doesn't lift January “blahs.” There is joy, there is identity, there is gratitude, there is assurance, there is hope. What a difference it makes to focus beyond myself and my cares, and look to — as the psalmist says — the One who has made me.

I like that it says it's not “we ourselves” responsible for our existence — because it is so easy in human nature to puff up and think I am my own entity. I can just do what I want. I can come up with the answers for my life. I can provide whatever I need for myself. 

The Bible tells story after story of just the opposite. I need my Creator. He is good, and loving, and kind, and faithful. Someone I can trust. Someone who has the answers I seek.

I can look around me, look at the injustice and destruction going on in the world, and say, “Well, there is no God, or at least not One who cares.” I can also look at the beauty in the world, the inspiring stories, the giving, the compassion and provision, and say, “Isn't God awesome in how He cares for this earth and its people.” 

Psalm 100 is a direction changer for me. Pointing me upward. And allowing “up” to then spread “out” in a joyful shout.