“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.”

–Psalm 100:5

The 100th Psalm is one of my favorites.  As a pastor I often used it to open a worship service as the words are so fitting for such occasions.   

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth,” it opens, “worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” Later, the Psalmist adds “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.”  Those verses offer a reminder of the basic human need to worship the source of every good thing.

The same chapter goes on to describe the right understanding of our relationship to the Creator.  “Know that the LORD is God,” its author continues. In other words, we are not God despite the creative power of human beings in a world of AI. “It is he that made us,” and not the other way around as critics of faith have suggested over the millennia. “We are his,” the Psalmist exclaims “we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”  Such words are both humble and true. 

And then the poem closes in this way: “For the LORD is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Other translations put it “his mercy is forever sure.” The Psalmist is celebrating basic truths about our Maker–the inherent goodness of the Creator, a persistent divine love, and God’s timeless care. Psalm 100 is fitting for times of worship, yet its power goes beyond the walls of any place of worship. 

As part of a sabbatical years ago, I had the opportunity to worship at a Methodist Church in Port Edward, South Africa. On the Sunday I was present, the service included a time of healing as persons came forward for prayer and anointing with oil. I asked my hosts if that was a typical part of a Sunday service there. It was not. 

Among those who walked up that morning was a young girl. When she returned, I noticed that people of all ages around her were wearing blue t-shirts with the depiction of a glowing sun and some words I couldn’t read. After the service, I learned the girl is seven years old. Diagnosed with kidney cancer five years earlier, the treatment had gone well, but the disease had returned. A few days after that service, the family would travel to Russia for treatment. A bake sale had been held at the church for them the day before.

Someone then told me the family were not members of the congregation and that no one locally had even known them three days earlier. Instead, they lived in Johannesburg, five hundred miles away, and were in Port Edward because a friend had offered her beach house to them. That friend knew a man from that Methodist church named Peter.  She called him on Friday to tell him the family was in town and described their circumstances. Peter called his pastor and the next day the church had the bake sale and then on Sunday, a time for healing during worship. The t-shirts had been printed the previous day and were worn by congregants who had just met the family.

Once the service had ended, I sought out the parents. I told them I was a pastor from the United States and was deeply moved by their situation. I spoke of how impressed I was with how the congregation had responded. I added that I would be praying for them and their daughter as her treatments proceeded. The father thanked me and spoke confidently of a positive outcome. The mom said “God is good. His mercy is forever sure.”

At that word, a Psalmist from centuries ago–and God–surely smiled.

Eternal One, thank you for evidence of your care evident all around me.  No matter what is happening in my life today, help me to proclaim a resilient faith like that South African mom. Amen.