Do you remember times when you literally shouted for joy? I remember shouting for joy–and jumping up and down–with 60,000 other Scots one Saturday in 1964, when big Jim Telfer sealed a famous Scottish rugby victory over England with a glorious touchdown under the posts.

I daresay, however, you and I are more restrained in church. Maybe we let out a quiet amen once in a while, but rarely, if ever, do we raise a shout. This psalm is in two parts, exhorting us respectively to joy and thanksgiving.

God calls us to serve Him with joy (vv. 1-3). “Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands”–that is, all those everywhere who love the Lord. Elsewhere the psalmist says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Ps. 107:2). Do you joyfully shout to the Lord for His free grace and daily mercies? Do you bring joy in your heart to public, private and family worship? Or do you excuse your coldness by saying that church is boring or by blaming something or somebody else?

Listen to the psalmist’s answer: “O send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy” (Ps. 43:3-4). Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Then listen to Peter: “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pet. 1:8).

How is this believing joy to be applied? (v. 2). In two main ways, the first of which is to “serve the Lord with gladness” in every aspect of thinking, acting and living as a believer. The motive is “the Lord” and the mode is “with gladness.” If the Lord is your “light and…salvation” (Ps. 27:1), is it not now natural to you?

The second application is to “come before His presence with singing” (v. 2). This refers to public worship. We are called, then and now, to “go into the house of the Lord” (Ps. 122:1). Again, motive and mode come together: The former is God’s presence and our desire for being in it, while the latter is singing praise to Him.

Why do God’s people shout, serve and sing with gladness? (v. 3). Two reasons are given: our creation and His covenant.

God has, by creation, made us all. We therefore have a built-in purpose and meaning for our lives arising from our creation in God’s image. Work is a creation ordinance–the calling of every human being.

God has, by covenant, made believers “his people…the sheep of his pasture.” Jesus is the “great shepherd of the sheep” who “by the blood of the covenant equips you with everything good for doing his will” (Heb. 13:20-21). By His grace through faith in Him we are saved. Christian, you have every reason to “make a joyful shout to the Lord.” This is the believer’s “new birthright”!

God also calls us to worship Him with thanksgiving (vv. 4-5). Public worship–“his gates” and “courts”–is specifically in view here, and the psalmist sets out the heart attitude of the true worshiper and the reasons that generate and undergird it.

We are to approach the Lord “with thanksgiving” (v. 4). But don’t miss the words “enter into,” for the first wonder is that the door is open! Jesus is “the door of the sheep” (John 10:7). Notice also the personal thrust of it all: “Be thankful to him and bless his name.” God’s ark, like Noah’s before the rain came, is still open. Gospel grace is God’s open door. It is God’s everlasting love in Christ crucified that reconciles us to Him and calls us to Him in believing worship–irresistibly “with thanksgiving.”

Three simple reasons support this (v. 5). God is “good,” both in Himself and also to His people! Furthermore, His “mercy is everlasting.” He is love both in Himself, and to His people–and without end! Third, His “truth endures to all generations.” He is truth both in Himself, to His people as long as the world lasts, and in glory hereafter.

Can you say amen to all these in your heart, from the deepest joy of a soul set free in Jesus your Savior? Charles Wesley sums it up for every Christian: “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain–For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” Let us often shout for joy to the Lord!