The Father’s Sovereign Faithfulness As Creator and Redeemer | Psalm 100:3

Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3

This verse begins with a declaration: “Know that the Lord Himself is God;”. That statement itself could stand alone and we could ponder it for the rest of our lives and never exhaust the truth in it.  We must know and understand this about Whom we worship because it tells us the “why” of our worship. Knowing that He is God lets us in on the truth there is no other to be worshiped or to whom we submit. In our day far too many people see themselves as “self-made men” and they tend to adore their supposed creator, self! Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth that “God is” is foundational to all of life. The first knowledge must be to recognize the origin of our being.

God has forever provided a witness to Himself through all that He has created in the physical universe.  Psalm 19:1 declares, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” To see the faithfulness of God in His creation all one has to do is look! God’s power, orderliness, and plan are clearly in view for all who will see.

When God created man he provide for his every need. Before the fall, in Genesis 3, man had a real paradise in which to live with every kind of food and protection man could ever desire. After the fall, man was not left to starve by God, but now with sin in the world it became a bit more struggle; but God was still faithful and provided for His creation’s physical needs.  This is the theological truth called common grace – “the rain falls on the just and the unjust.”  So, we belong to God, and owe him praise, simply by virtue of His being our physical creator and provider.

But physical needs were not all that man had after the rebellion. Indeed, now man found himself, and all his posterity, in the very perilous condition of being alienated from the God who had created him. This alienation was literally “spiritual death” for which man had no recourse to correct. To merely say “I’m sorry” to God was not enough to appease God’s holiness and the wrath that flowed out of that holiness toward sin. But God made a promise that even though man had rebelled He would provide a way for atonement. In Genesis 3:15, God gave the prophecy of the coming Messiah/Savior – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” This has been called the “protevangelium” – literally the first glimpse of the gospel in the Bible.

For Christians, however, there is far more to be thankful and give praise for. There is not just the first creation, but there is the second creation, or new birth in Christ. When David speaks of “it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” there is a far deeper truth for Christians than simply creation. Paul said to the Ephesian Christians in chapter 2, verses 4 & 5, “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” It is the creative, regenerative power of God, though His love, that has “made” us alive with Christ. God has done for us what it was humanly impossible for us to do for ourselves – He has given us life.

The imagery of the sheep and the shepherd are prominent in both the Old and the New Testaments. Here David simply alludes to the shepherd by saying, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” The image of God as the shepherd of His people is a picture of provision and protection, the essence of faithfulness.

Jesus picks up the shepherd language in His earthly ministry to speak of the relationship between Himself and his disciples. In John 10:14 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” Sheep are often thought of as dumb animals, and not without reason.  But one thing that sheep do know, according to Jesus, is the voice of their shepherd.  It is in that voice that they find their greatest comfort and security.

The same is true for those who know the Good Shepherd by virtue of redemption. He calls and they follow and they find that He is a faithful shepherd who will do all that is necessary for their protection.  While the hired hand may run away during trouble the Good shepherd is willing to “lay down his life.” And the security of the Good Shepherd is not just confined to this life, but stretches into all eternity. Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” His faithfulness is to hold on to His sheep with a commitment and tenacity that is beyond anything that is possible in our ability. He is faithful to protect, provide and secure those who belong to Him.

Perhaps the most famous passage in the entire Bible is Psalm 23 – the shepherd Psalm. It ends with this verse, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” There is no greater faithfulness than this promise from God – we will dwell with Him forever! For this we worship His holy name!!