Psalm 103

Scripture:

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness
   and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
    his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
    he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
    and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to children's children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
    and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his word,
    obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
    his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
    in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Devotion:

Psalm 103 does not leave you with a feeling. It leaves you with a responsibility, and there is a difference worth sitting with. 

The psalm has moved this week from David's personal list of benefits in verses 1 through 5, through Israel's history with a God who is slow to anger, through the image of a father who knows his children are made of dust and holds them tenderly anyway. And then, in verses 15 and 16, it puts the brevity of human life right next to the everlasting nature of God's steadfast love. You are grass. He is from everlasting to everlasting. His love is on you, and it outlasts everything that threatens to undo you. 

The application question for Psalm 103 is what to do with that. David's response to all of this was to preach to his own soul, to deliberately choose not to forget, to call everything in creation to join the chorus. That is a decision made against the grain of a forgetful heart, and it requires something from you. Maybe it is starting a practice of naming God's benefits before your feet hit the floor in the morning. Maybe it is the way you speak to someone who does not seem to you like an image-bearer of a compassionate God. Maybe it is letting go of something you have been holding against yourself that the east-to-west distance was meant to settle. 

Ask God what He is saying specifically to you, and make your answer concrete enough to follow through on. 

HEAR about it:

Apply:

Write your specific, measurable application. What will you do differently this week because of Psalm 103? Be concrete, make it something you can actually report back on.

Prayer and Reflection:

Take a few minutes to sit quietly and reflect on the passage you read today. Let the Holy Spirit bring to mind what stood out to you and why. Then spend some time in prayer. Pray for the people around you, for your outlook on this day, and for the needs you are carrying in your own life.

Father, do not let this truth stay at the level of a good feeling. You have shown me this week a God who is rich in mercy, who removed my sin as far as the east is from the west, who knows that I am dust and loves me anyway. Work that down into the way I live today. Where I have been forgetting Your benefits, remind me. Where I have been treating myself or someone else as though Your compassion does not extend that far, correct me. Give me the courage to follow through on what You have asked of me. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

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