PSALM 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
This is a reminder that I am to bless the LORD with everything in me. My situation may seem bleak. I may have lost loved ones this year. My finances may not look like I want them to. My health may be failing. Things in my life right now may not be ideal, but yet I will bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, I will bless His holy name! He is worthy! My circumstances do not diminish God's worth! I will bless Him and love Him and trust Him!
PSALM 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
This is a reminder that I am to bless God always and not to forget all the benefits I have because I am His child. I belong to God. He is my Heavenly Father. I have many benefits to serving Him. We will list them in the subsequent passages.
PSALM 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases;
He has forgiven me of all my sins. I could stop right there. That could be enough benefit, but there are so many more. I am so incredibly grateful that God sent Jesus to take away my sins. He paid the penalty for my sins and now I am free. I do not die and eternally separate myself from my King. Instead, I have eternal life through Christ Jesus. He raised me when He was resurrected. The same power that brought Him back to life is at work in my life to revive me after I died to sin. I am set free and that is a wonderful benefit.
He heals all my diseases. No matter what suffering I have gone through, He is my healer. He may not heal me in this lifetime of the physical ailments I suffer with. I may have loss of blood, weakness, pain, and fatigue in this life, but He is my healer. He will heal me before He takes me Home and I will have a glorified body, no pain, no sickness, no dying there. It will be wonderful. He has healed my body though through the years of many, many ailments and issues that I nearly died from. He is my healer.
PSALM 103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
He has redeemed me so I do not have to pay the price of my sins. He saved me from great destruction in my spirit, but He has also saved me from destruction in my lifetime. I was spared from an abusive relationship that would have possibly taken my life, not once but twice. He redeemed my life from destruction when He spared me from taking my own life. He has redeemed my life from destruction in many ways and I am forever grateful that He loves me so much. He gently places a crown upon me of His amazing love and kindness and tender mercies. He could have punished me for all the things I did wrong, but He did not do that. He chose mercy and great love and incredible acts of kindness throughout my 43 years of life and He does it again and again every single day.
PSALM 103:5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
He fills my life with good things. I am tasting the pleasant goodness He gives me daily. He has renewed my strength. I may not be a young person any longer, but in my spirit I can soar like an eagle because the deeper in Him I go, the higher I seem to climb and the heights He has taken me to is incredible. The view is amazing as I look back over my life and the hills and valleys He always brought me through. He has moved mountains out of my way and at times enabled me to scale great heights to conquer obstacles in my way. I love Him so much for His goodness and His love.
PSALM 103:6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been oppressed in my lifetime; not depressed, but oppressed. I felt the weight of heaviness on my life so many times. Trials in this life have left me battered and battle-scarred when I was not properly suited up for battle with the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). So often I gave in to fear and worry and doubt, when I should have remembered this powerful verse. God Himself delievers His righteousness and His perfect judgment to all who have been heavy burdened and treated harshly and with cruelty. He takes care of the situation for us. He fights for us and He always wins! He invites us to rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
PSALM 103:7 He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.
He used Moses and told Him what He was going to do. They were in close relationship. Their bond was secure. The good news is that God lets us know what He is doing, too, if we ask Him. Moses was afraid of the call God placed on His life. He wanted to run away. He said he was not fit to be used by God because of a speech impediment. He ran away from the palace after killing a man. He was tending sheep and started a new family but God pursued Him anyway. He led God's people out of captivity into freedom! He showed the children of Israel what He was going to do. He made them promises. He does the same for us. He has told me so many things He would do and they all came to pass just like He said, even when it did not seem possible at the time. He is still revealing His heart to us if we will listen. What a wonderful benefit of being His child, to have such great fellowship with Him.
PSALM 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
This is a reminder of who our God is. If we want to know what our Heavenly Father is like, this is a perfect description of some of His characteristics. He is full of mercy. He could have punished us for all our sins but He loves us so much He made a way for us to escape damnation and be saved. He is gracious. He gives us grace even though we do not deserve it and will never deserve it. He does not blast us off the face of the earth in anger, but He is slow to anger. He does get angry. The Bible says He is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalm 7:11). He gives us all a chance to get in right standing with Him again, though. He has plenty of mercy for the whole world. What a wonderful picture of who He is!
PSALM 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever.
He is a good Father. He is not always angry with us. He does not hold grudges. He will not scold us all the time. Some people think God is up in heaven, with a big hammer in his hand, ready to punish us as soon as we do something wrong. He is not like that! He is so patient with us. He will not stay mad at us. When we are sorry and we repent, He is loving and kind and welcomes us back to Himself. He cleans us up and tells us that He loves us. He will not beat us up or harm us. He lovingly corrects us and forgives us.
PSALM 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
We should all be lost and bound for hell because none of us are righteous, but He did not deal with us according to what we have done wrong. Instead He allowed Jesus to take our place and pay the extreme penalty for our sins so we could be given grace and mercy and saved from the judgment we should have had. He does not reward us according to the sins we committed. He responds to us with grace and love and forgiveness. What a wonderful God we serve!
PSALM 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.
I could tell you of so many mistakes I made and failures I have had in my lifetime. I could go on and on about the times I messed up and did the easier wrong than the harder right, but I would rather tell you about God who loves me in spite of my shortcomings and this verse sums up God's amazing kindness and mercy. How high is heaven above the earth? It's very high. It's so high we cannot get there by an airplane or any special aircraft that we could build. We cannot send a satellite to heaven or a rocket ship. There is no way we can even measure how high is above the earth. In the same way, we can never measure how great His mercy is toward those who fear Him and love Him. His mercy is a never-ending supply to His children.
PSALM 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.
How far is the east from the west? God has created an incredible universe that if you keep going in one direction, toward the east you will never run into the west. If you start out in a direction toward the west, you will never meet up with the east. That is just how He designed things to be. That is how He designed the forgiveness of our sins. They are so far from us that we will never run back into them. We will never have the stains of our past to soil our garment. He has given us His righteousness to clothe us. We will never have to bear the markings of a sinner because Jesus bears the marks in His hands and in His feet. We are free and cleansed. We will never face those things again. The enemy may try to remind us of some past wrong we have done, but God chooses to never remember it again. He takes it so far from us that we can never be connected to it again.
PSALM 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him.
He is our Heavenly Father and He loves us greatly. He feels sorrow and compassion for us, His children. Just like I am quick to help my children when they are hurting, or to tend to them when they are ill, He is right there with us to protect us and help us, too. I would not allow my child to be mistreated by others, so as much as is within my power I would have pity on my children and quickly come to their defense. He does the same thing only in a greater way. He is by our side and when we have been abandoned, abused, lied on, mistreated, and harmed He is there to shower us with His compassion and love. His heart breaks when we have been wounded. It is not His desire for us to suffer but He will always turn it around for our good. (Romans 8:28).
PSALM 103:14 For He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.
He knows we are human. He remembers that He created man from the dust of the earth. He knows that to dust we shall return. Another benefit of being His child is that He knows us better than we know ourselves. He understands why we do the things we do, say the things we say, and behave the way we behave. He understands. He knows. He remembers.
PSALM 103:15-16 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
We humans will not live forever. We have a day appointed to us to die. (Hebrews 9:27). Unless we get called away by Jesus when He comes back for us, we will all go by way of the grave. None of us will make it out of here alive. Just like the grass in a field may grow, and flowers be in the field, and it is beautiful to see, but over time the flower fades away and the grass may stop growing, or someone may pave over it and it is all gone; the same is true for our lives. We may live happy, flourishing lives. Others may admire our lives from a distance, but one day we will pass on and after so long our memory may even fade away. This is not meant to be depressing but it is empowering. We will not live here forever. We will one day be carried away with the wind and forgotten on earth but God never forgets about us and one day we will be with Him and never die. We will live forever with Jesus our King.
PSALM 103:17-18 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.
This is what will never fade, never pass away, never be forgotten. God's mercy is never changing, never ending, and it goes from one generation to another, on and on, to those who are in a covenant relationship with God. This promise is to those who remember His commandments and do them. This is how Jesus said we would show we love Him if we are found keeping the commandments. (John 14:15 and John 15:10)
PSALM 103:19 The LORD hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all.
This is a great reminder of His Sovereignty. He reigns over all the earth. He is the final authority. He has prepared His throne high above us. We do not have to go to a physical location on earth or a nearby planet to find Him. He sits high above all and He rules all but we know how to find Him. We simply call on His name. He has allowed us to boldly come to His throne of grace and He will help us when we need Him. (Hebrews 4:16).
PSALM 103:20-21 Bless the LORD, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure.
This is a word for the angels. God created mechanical beings to do the things He wants done. They listen to Him and obey Him quickly. David is admonishing the angels to bless God. I am so thankful God has set angels to keep watch over His children. (Psalm 34:7, Psalm 91:11).
PSALM 103:22 Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.
The final verse is for all God's creation, not just mankind. This time David addresses everyone and everything God created. He says to bless the LORD and finally reminds himself to bless the LORD. I will bless the LORD because He is my everything. If you want to know what I am thankful for this year and always, it is for God my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ my King and Holy Spirit my Comforter. I am so happy to be a child of the Most High God and to be in the family of believers. I am thankful I am in the Bride of Jesus Christ. I am glad that Holy Spirit teaches and instructs me in the way I should go. I will choose to end 2021 blessing God and my Savior and begin 2022 with His praise on my lips.
I hope you take some time today to reflect on what you are thankful for. God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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