Saturday of the Second Week of Lent | Psalm 103

 Welcome back to the book of Psalms. Psalm 103 today, a psalm that's going to take everything David's got. Have you ever run a race or competed in a sport where you just had to give it your all? Where you wondered if there was even enough of you to complete the task? David is about to praise God for all the blessings that he's received and he's so full of gratitude. He’s going to need to give everything he's got and he's not sure he's got enough gas in the tank to go the distance or to do God justice. But in verse one, he gives it a shot.  

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:1). 

David's talking to himself here. Come on, you can do this. “Praise the Lord, my soul. All my inmost being, praise his holy name.” That's everything that David has been experiencing from God, welling up inside of him into a gratitude that feels like a Somehow insufficient,  but it's all he has because he's all he's got but he doesn't want to forget all that God has given him Forget not all his benefits and then he lists out the benefit package that comes From his knowing God and it's good you sign on with God . And it's an amazing deal. It's the complete package. And in verse three through five, David unpacks it.

“Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles” (Psalm 103:3-5).  

Let's just take the verbs for a second, so that we can see the benefits of knowing God. He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and renews. That's a good deal. God's benefits are comprehensive, panoramic to cover all of your needs in life. If you were to scour this benefit package, For gaps, you just wouldn't find them. Anybody would sign their name on the dotted line. But David isn't done. God does what he does because of who he is. And David wants us to see more of who God is just by what he's given us, but by what he's done. So he runs us through a bit of old Testament history. To see how he blessed the people who followed him throughout the ages He hopes it will believe that if god blessed these people in the past for their faithfulness He'll bless us in the same way, in our lives. Imagine how differently you might live if you believe that God was with you and rewarded your faithfulness with his own. Verse 6,  

“The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” (Psalm 103:6). 

Life got you down, you oppressed by others and being crushed by injustice. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. And here's the thing, David is dead and so are all the people in the Bible, but God always delivers. They have justice now. He's healed all their diseases now, even if he didn’t in life.  Remember, God will one day restore the world as it should be. And that may not happen during your and my lifetime, but it is a promise, something you can bank on, that you will have justice, you will have healing, and you already have His forgiveness.

But David then goes on to tell us what God did for Moses. Namely, He revealed who he was in verse seven, 

“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel; The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.” (Psalm 103:7-9).

What you just read is one of the greatest mantras of the Bible. Whenever God wanted to remind His people of who He is, He repeated verses 7 and 10, something He once said to Moses about Himself. And it's actually the most repeated description of God's character in the entire Bible.  For the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.  Isn't that good news? Most of the pagan gods were the opposite, quick to anger, not slow to anger. Temperamental, moody, easily offended.  They were vindictive and petty, but God was different.  Verse 10 says, 

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;  As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgression from us.”  (Psalm 103:10-12). 

It's not just what God does, like forgive all our sins, as he says in the opening verses. It's also what he doesn't do. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. If he did, you'd be a black stain on the ground, the only memory of you after the lightning strike. But thank God. He's not like Zeus. God might seem distant sometimes when you look up into the sky and think, man, there's such a span between him and me. But verse 11 says, when you feel distant from God, look up into the sky and know that his love is greater than that distance. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. That means God loves you to the moon and back. And speaking of distance. As far as the East is from the West, He has removed your sins from you. Do you know how far that is? It's an infinite line, because East never does meet West. It's not a thing, and neither is your sin. It's just gone.  But why? Why would God treat you and I like that? We're sinners. Verse 13 gives us the explanation. We're his kids?

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we're dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower in the field; the wind blows over it, and it's gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts” (Psalm 103: 13-18). 

So God's love is also bigger than my life and the span of it. It was here before I was born, and it'll be there after I breathe my last. I'm temporary, but God's love is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. But then in verse 19, David backs up as the grandeur of God's eternal love causes him to see the grandeur of God himself. Staggering back, looking up, mouth agape, in verse 19, David sings, 

“The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you, his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works, everywhere in his dominion.  Praise the Lord, my soul” (Psalm 103:19-22). 

You can hear the wonder as David imagines the angels zipping across God's throne room in the heavens, running errands across the globe for those he loves and those who fear him. Praise the Lord, all his angels. As he waxes poetic, he likens them to the millions of stars in the galaxy. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, a word for the cosmos in the night sky. You servants who do his will. Then he looks around at all the earth, the vast roster of creation, realizing nothing that was made should fail to praise him and give him his due. Praise the Lord, all his works. Leading him to his final exhortation, after telling everyone else and everything else to worship God, he finally rests on himself.  Praise the Lord, my soul.  I can tell others to worship him, but I only have control over myself. And that goes for you too. I'm the only one who can truly give him worship. In my own life. And so David ends where he began. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. He can't really command the sky, the heavens, the angels, and all creation, but he can command his own soul. My soul, bless the Lord with everything that's within you. Give him all the gas in the tank. 

So tell yourself today soul, worship God, bless his holy name praise the Lord.