December 29
"A PSALM OF PRAISE"—Psalm c
Bible Studies for Every Day in the Year1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD be it God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endoreth to all generations.
"This is the only Psalm bearing this precise inscription. It is all ablaze with grateful adoration, and has for this reason been a favorite with the people of God ever since it was written. . . . Nothing can be more sublime this side heaven than the singing of this noble Psalm by a vast congregation. Watts' paraphrase, beginning 'Before Jehovah's awful throne,' and the Scotch 'All people that on earth do dwell,' are both noble versions. . . . In this divine lyric we sing with gladness the creating power and goodness of the Lord."—C. H. Spurgeon.
"Serve the Lord with gladness." "It is a sign the oil of grace hath been poured into the heart 'when the oil of gladness' shines on the countenance. Cheerfulness credits religion."—Thomas Watson.
"Can you bear to be waited upon by a servant who goes moping and dejected to his every task? You would rather have no servant at all, than one who evidently finds your service cheerless and irksome."—George Bowen.
Closet Promise.—I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.—Jer. xxxii. 40.
One has said, beautifully: "God gives His infinity, to be the extent of our inheritance; His eternity, to the date of our happiness; His unchangeableness, to the rock of our rest; His wisdom, to direct us; His power, to protect us; His holiness, to sanctify us; His justice, to absolve us; His goodness, to reward us in the way of grace, not of debt; His truth, to secure us in the accomplishment of all His promises."
What an inheritance! Can a Christian, with a clear title to it, ever think of being poor? Can he ever be despondent? Can the shades of distrust ever gather upon his brow? Such experiences seem to be wholly out of place.