At this holiday time of our calendar year, everyone is thinking about joy and happiness either from a standpoint of having joy from Yahweh in their hearts, or from a bah, humbug, joyless frame of mind that comes from being distant from Yahweh. People also can become anxious about New Year’s resolutions saying, “What does Yahweh want me to do?”

What mostly causes this existential angst is not having joy in the LORD and not having a purpose in life. The two problems go hand in hand. If we have a half-hearted sense of praise and thankfulness to Yahweh, we really then have little sense of what is meaningful to us. If we allow the Scriptures to teach us, we very clearly see what we are to be about each and every day. What matters to Yahweh should be most meaningful to us. Let us turn to the Psalms for instruction on what brings us joy and purpose in life.

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth!

Let us stop and pause right here to meditate on this verse. ALL the EARTH is to make a joyful noise to Yahweh! Yahweh sets the standard for what all the earth is to do and that is to praise Him. In the next verse, He tells us how to serve Him.

Psalm 100:2  Serve Yahweh with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Our mindset is to be that serving Yahweh is joyful. We can serve with gladness (cheerfulness, happiness, contentment) in our hearts as we enter into His presence with singing songs of praise. Imagine going into the throne room of Yahweh and seeing Yahweh with Jesus the Messiah seated at His right hand. As you walk in to the throne room, you can hear the praises and singing of all the earth resounding in a beautiful chorus! What an exceptional thought of being in the presence of Yahweh, being loved by Him, and being able to sing songs of praise in His presence. We serve our Yahweh, the body of Christ, and the world with joy! Yahweh made us to sing praises to Him. When we sing, every section of our brain is utilized. It is healing to us on many levels.

Psalm 100:3

Know that Yahweh, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

When I was a child, I was small for my age and was not a good baseball player. The children in the neighborhood would be playing a game and choosing up sides, and I was always the last one to be selected, and it was done with groans by the rest of the team. I did not feel like I was wanted or belonged, and it hurt. Instead of focusing on that deficit, I can choose to think this way. We were each made by Yahweh, He claims us for His own, and we belong to His flock. What a team to be on! We each are very special to Yahweh. As the sheep rely on their shepherd for food, water, and shelter, we look to Yahweh for these things to sustain our life. More than the custodial needs, we need nurturance and love. The shepherd talks to his sheep and sings to them to keep them comforted, and when they are hurt, he tends to their wounds. Yahweh tends to our wounds to heal them and comforts us when life seems difficult.

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him: bless his name!

We have access to enter into His gates because of what Jesus Christ accomplished through his life, death, ascension, and sending of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. You and I can walk into that court with our heads up in praise and thankfulness for our salvation. There is a day coming when we will all see this with our very own eyes! Our hearts are so overwhelmed with love and thankfulness we thank Him and bless His name for such gifts.

Psalm 100:5  Yahweh is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Yahweh’s love is forever. Not like human love that can be there one day and betray you the next. Stated again so that we really “get” it, His faithfulness is forever too. We can trust in our Yahweh forever to love us, to nurture us, to bind our wounds, to give us joy!

David and the other writers of Psalms were inspired to write about such joy toward Yahweh and the praise that raises up from that joy and thankfulness.

Psalm 101:1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice: to you, O Yahweh, I will make music.

Psalm 103:1, 2 Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits!

Psalm 104:1 Bless Yahweh, O my soul! Yahweh my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty.

Psalm 105:1 Oh give thanks to Yahweh: call upon his name: make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him: tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek Yahweh rejoice!

These Scriptures bring to mind the power, majesty, and lovingkindness of Yahweh. Our hearts are so filled with thankfulness for His plan of salvation and how He takes us through the messy business of life and cares tenderly for us, baring His arm when needed, and caressing us with His love when needed. When we experience Yahweh, our godly response is to praise Him with joy in our hearts!

Our main purpose in life is to worship and praise our Yahweh with joy and gladness. In doing this, we will be inspired to live a life of loving obedience to Yahweh and Jesus Christ. When we are focused on these things first and foremost, then we will actually see with our own new eyes what we are told in Revelation that will happen at the end of the millennial Kingdom.

Revelation 21:1-7   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself with be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Revelation 22:3  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads And night will be no more. They will need no light or lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

We rejoice in the salvation that comes from Yahweh through Jesus Christ. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and bless His name! What a joy, what a purpose!!