Psalm 100:2 NKJV
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
“Serve the LORD with gladness.” He is our Lord, and therefore he is to be served; he is our gracious Lord, and therefore to be served with joy. The invitation to worship here given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration were a funeral solemnity, but a cheery gladsome exhortation, as though we were bidden to a marriage feast.
“Come before his presence with singing.” We ought in worship to realize the presence of God and by an effort of the mind to approach him. This is an act which must to every rightly instructed heart be one of great solemnity, but at the same time it must not be performed in the servility of fear, and therefore we come before him, not with weepings and wailings, but with Psalms and hymns. Singing, as it is a joyful, and at the same time a devout, exercise, should be a constant form of approach to God. The measured, harmonious, hearty utterance of praise by a congregation of really devout persons is not merely decorous but delightful and is a fit anticipation of the worship of heaven, where praise has absorbed prayer, and become the sole mode of adoration. (Spurgeon)
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Serve the LORD with gladness: The whole earth is invited to serve the LORD. The psalmist likely had in mind the service of worship or temple rituals, but the principle applies to any service directed to God. Those who serve the LORD should do it with gladness.
Come before His presence with singing: As in many places in the Psalms, praise is expressed in song. Singing is not the only way to praise God, but it is the chief way to praise Him. (Guzik)
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Serve the Lord with gladness – That is, In your worship, and in all your acts of obedience. Let there be joy in this service. Let it not be with the fear of slaves; not as a matter of compulsion and force; not with reluctance, moroseness, or gloom. Let it be a cheerful, happy service; let it be freely rendered, let it be an occasion of joy to the soul. The service of God is a source of the highest joy that man knows.
Come before his presence with singing – As expressive of joy. So the birds sing; so nature rejoices; so should man – intelligent, redeemed, immortal man, be joyful. (Barnes)
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Serve the Lord with gladness,…. Not with a slavish fear, under a spirit of bondage, as the Jews under the legal dispensation; not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit: with spiritual joy and freedom of soul, as under the spirit of adoption; readily, willingly, cheerfully; without sinister and selfish ends and views; as their Lord and Master; taking delight in his person, and pleasure in his service; rejoicing in him, without having any confidence in the flesh:
Come before his presence with singing; to the throne of his grace with thankfulness for mercies received, as well as to implore others; and into his house, and at his ordinances, beginning public worship with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Psalm 95:2. (Gill)
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Great encouragement given us, in worshipping God, to do it cheerfully (v. 2): Serve the Lord with gladness. This intimates a prediction that in gospel-times there should be special occasion for joy; and it prescribes this as a rule of worship: Let God be served with gladness. By holy joy we do really serve God; it is an honor to him to rejoice in him; and we ought to serve him with holy joy. Gospel-worshippers should be joyful worshippers; if we serve God in uprightness, let us serve him with gladness. We must be willing and forward to it, glad when we are called to go up to the house of the Lord (Ps. 122:1), looking upon it as the comfort of our lives to have communion with God; and we must be pleasant and cheerful in it, must say, It is good to be here, approaching to God, in every duty, as to God our exceeding Joy, Ps. 43:4. We must come before his presence with singing, not only songs of joy, but songs of praise (Henry)
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Serve the Lord with gladness — It is your privilege and duty to be happy in your religious worship. The religion of the true God is intended to remove human misery, and to make mankind happy. He whom the religion of Christ has not made happy does not understand that religion, or does not make a proper use of it. (Clarke)
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There are times when I am on the way to Church that I ask God to help me to worship Him and Praise Him. It’s not because it’s a duty, a lot of times it’s because the weight and worry of the world is on me and I want to be aware that I’m going to the house of God to worship Him and to Praise Him. When we are in Heaven we won’t have the weight and worries of this world and worshipping Abba our Father and Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit will be as natural to us as breathing. (Bill)
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalms 100:2
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before him with joyfulness.
One of the Praise and Worship songs we used to sing in the 80’s (I know….I’m old)
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart;
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad, He has made me glad,
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad, He has made me glad,
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
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