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 is one of David's great psalms of praise, and its structure is more carefully built than it might first appear. The psalm moves in deliberate circles, beginning and ending with the same refrain and working outward from the personal to the cosmic. David starts with what God has done for him, moves to what God has done for Israel, and finally widens the frame until the whole created order, angels and hosts and all God's works, is called to join the chorus. 

The theological heart of the psalm beats in verses 8 through 14. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." That phrase did not originate here. David is quoting, almost word for word, what God said about Himself when He passed before Moses on the mountain in Exodus 34. It is as though David has taken the very name God gave Himself and turned it into a song. 

And then comes verse 10, which is one of the most astonishing sentences in all of Scripture: "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." The distance described in verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, is the deliberate language of removal. Sin is placed outside the reach of measurement, outside the reach of accusation, outside the reach of memory. 

HEAR about it:

Explain:
In your own words, summarize what Psalm 103 meant to its original audience. What is the central truth? What does it reveal about the character of God?

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, give me the mind of a student as I sit under Your Word today. The distance You placed between me and my sin is not something I want to read past too quickly, so slow me down and let that truth settle somewhere deeper than my head. Keep me from reading my own assumptions into what You are saying, and let the character You revealed to Moses on the mountain be the God I am coming to this week. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

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