Know that the Lord is God
Psalm 100v3
8th August 2025
This is the third of our verse-by-verse studies of Psalm 100.
Psalm 100v3
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
"Know that the Lord is God." That is, "Know that YHWH is God." English Bibles follow the Septuagint in writing "The Lord" where the Hebrew Bible has "YHWH". The One who revealed Himself to Moses, the One who set Israel free from Egypt and gave us the Law, the One who spoke through through the prophet Jeremiah to promise us a New Covenant, and who came in the flesh in the person of Jesus to bring that New Covenant into being through the sacrifice of HIs own life, is God.
"YHWH" means "I Am". The fundamental truth of the universe is that God exists. All things flow from Him. There is only one God. "Know that YHWH is God." He alone is the true God, and He created all things. There are plenty of false gods around. Accept no imitation.
There’s a lot of false religion around. There are plenty of people who’ll tell you that all religions lead to God, or even that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re nice. There are plenty of atheists. There are also plenty of people who think that Christianity is about us, and what we do, when really it’s about God, and what Jesus has done. But as Peter said in Acts 4v12, "Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved” – only Jesus the Lord. Know that the Lord is God.
Don’t take my word for it, or your pastor's. Do your research. Read your Bible. Pray. Seek God’s face. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Don’t rely on second-hand knowledge. Know for yourself that the Lord is God.
It’s good to do some theology. It’s good to know, so far as we can, what God is like. God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. God is everywhere. God is absolutely pure and holy. God is merciful and just. Be sure of these things for yourself. The more we learn about God, and the more we experience God, the more we’ll want to praise Him and serve Him, and the more we’ll know we can trust Him.
Like most of us, I've gone through some tough times. Knowing God for myself, and knowing something of God’s character and power, through studying the Bible, really helped me get through those tough times. I knew He was in control, when it was painfully obvious that I wasn’t. Knowing that I was saved, knowing that God would never let me go, knowing that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28) and so on, sustained me when all seemed dark.
When times are good, do some theology. You’ll need it when times are bad.
If you are a Christian, you’ve been born again, and you still doubt that the Lord is the true and only God, or if you still doubt His love for you, I have two suggestions for you.
- Firstly, repent of any sins you have and any unbiblical ideas you cling to. The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts, assuring us that we’re truly saved, and that our salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. But sin blocks our communication with God. It’s hard to hear the Holy Spirit when there’s dirt inside us.
- Secondly, ask God to baptise you in the Holy Spirit. And go on asking Him to re-fill you. When God fills us with the Holy Spirit, our personal experience of Him increases greatly. Then we no longer need to rely entirely on head knowledge and other people’s testimonies, because we have deep, frequent personal experience of God and His love for ourselves.
If we know the Lord, if we know that the Lord is God, in obedience to verse 3, then we’ll begin to understand how wonderful He truly is, and how amazing is the grace He’s given us, sending Jesus to die in our place and forgiving our sin. Then we will worship the Lord with gladness and we will come before him with singing, in obedience to verse 2.
Verse 3 continues "It is he who made us, and we are his". Some people can be very proud of how clever they are, how good-looking they are, or how much money they have. They take credit for what God has done. God created every one of us. He decided what sort of people we’d be. He’s crafted each one of us to be the person we are. He gives us strength, or intelligence, or beauty, or the ability to earn money. Psalm 139:13 says to God, "you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb." And God’s continuing to shape us according to His own purposes.
People can think they’re answerable only to themselves, or that their destiny is in their own hands. They’re deluded; since God created us, we rightfully belong to Him.
It is he who made us. How did God create us? You can be a Christian and believe in evolution. I don’t. I think the theory of evolution is preposterous. I’ve written a long article about it on this website. You can find it by clicking on the "Creation and science" tab at the top of the page. As Malcolm Muggeridge, one of the greatest English thinkers of the 20th century, said, "I am convinced that the Theory of Evolution… will be one of the greatest jokes in the history books of the future." But if you do believe in evolution, surely you also believe that God is in control of it, that it was His idea, and that it’s one of the tools He uses to create us. So, whether evolution is real or not, God created us.
Since God created us, we are His. The whole universe belongs to its creator. Every person belongs to the Lord. Some people submit to His lordship and some people rebel against Him, but we are all His by right. We wouldn’t exist if He hadn’t made us.
Verse 3 concludes by saying, "we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." We Christians belong to God in a deeper sense than other people. As 1 Corinthians 6v19-20 tells us, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." The precious blood of Jesus Christ redeemed us from sin and death. He paid the price to set us free, and now we are His. I’m very glad that I belong to Him. I know that means I owe Him my obedience. It also means I’m guaranteed He will look after me.
Jesus says in John 10v11, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Jesus cares for us Christians, protects us, feeds us, heals us and leads us as a perfect shepherd cares for his flock of sheep. God gives us pasture – good, rich ground, lush grass, quiet waters. Thieves, robbers, persecutors and abusers assail us on all sides like wide animals, but Jesus is our shepherd. As Psalm 23 tells us, the Lord’s rod and staff comfort us. God both protects us and leads us. And, as Jesus taught in Luke 15v1-7, if one of us loses his way, Jesus will come to search for us and bring us back.
Halellujah! The Lord is God! And He has mercy on us.