Psalm 103:1-22: Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Psalm 103:1-22: Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Our Scripture reading this morning comes from Psalm 103:1-22. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

 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!

May God bless the reading of His word.

Each of us as individuals have numerous reasons to praise God. Corporately, as the people of God, there is a multitude of moments and events that should call to mind reasons to offer our worship up to God. From personal testimonies to the great salvific event of the cross – we can all join David as he summons us to “bless the Lord”.

The main point of this passage is a call to bless the LORD for a multitude of reasons.

This poem is structured with bookends of a call to blessing, surrounding a body of text that list reason after reason. At the center of these bookends are three declarative statements that make up David’s reasoning for declaring that the Lord is worthy and deserving of praise.

1. (v.6) The LORD works righteousness & justice for all who are oppressed.
2. (v.8) The LORD is merciful & gracious, slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love.
3. (v.19) The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

One thing that is very interesting is the individual/corporate language David uses in this Psalm. The opening call to bless/praise in verses 2-5 all utilize individual language (1PS, “me & my” – 2PS “you & your”). Here, we can see the personal/individual element of recalling the faithfulness of God and the mighty acts of deliverance he has worked. Very easy to do, considering how individualistic our culture is.

But David shifts to corporate language in verses 6-14, demonstrating that in addition to thepersonal work that God does for each of us, we are all part of the larger “people of God”. Your story is just a small part of the larger work of redemption in the mind of God. Jesus Christ gave himself for the church, for a corporate body. As such, we can join together in calling to mind God’s mighty redemptive deeds, encouraging one another and reminding ourselves of God’s great story across the ages.

What are the reasons that lead David to declare that God is worthy of blessing?

Without preaching a second sermon, David couches his reasoning in imagery and phrases that evoke the story of the Exodus – probably the single most important redemptive moment in the history of God’s people in the OT.

• In the first statement (v.6), David declares how God has been for his people, especially when they found themselves under the oppressive rule of Pharoah. In bondage to an oppressive tyrant and subject to his deadly whims, God delivered Israel out of Egypt through mighty redemptive deeds, rescuing an enslaved nation and transforming them into his people, his precious possession.
• In the third statement (v.19), we see David extolling God’s rule and reign over all people, nations, and powers that would set up their false rule in the world. In the Exodus, God made war not only against Pharaoh, but against his armies and the very gods of Egypt. Plague after plague demonstrated his authority and power over all spheres of creation and the false gods of these oppressors. His victory over the chariots at the Red Sea and even the striking down of Pharoah’s firstborn, clearly show the extent of God’s reign – he was no mere tribal deity, he is in fact the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
• But it is in the second statement (v.8), that we see David spend the bulk of his time. Here, quoting directly from Exodus 34:6, David recounts God’s self-disclosure of who he is.

Merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. This is the God who saves the undeserving, the enemy, the rebel.

• o Some of the most beautiful descriptors of God’s love for his creatures are found in verses 9-14.
• o “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” Demonstrating his gracious disposition to not hold our records of sin and wrongdoing against us, but to rather offer forgiveness instead.
• o In verses 11-14, we can see two sets of comparisons attempting to describe the depths of God’s love: First, “As high as the heavens” and “as far as east is from west” outline the compassionate and forgiving love of God to remove and cover over the transgressions of a wicked people. Second, “as a father shows compassion to his children”, allows us to glimpse the affection of God to hiswayward creatures.

But oftentimes, we can read a text like this, assuming the best in ourselves and overlook the problem we face in a text like this – the problem of our sin and the holiness of God. Verses 11, 13, & 17 all speak of these amazing benefits being the inheritance of “those who fear the Lord”. This “fear” being defined in v. 18 – as those who keep his covenant and do his commandments. If we are honest with ourselves, we would acknowledge that this is not describing us. And if we need help realizing that Paul tells us in Romans 3:18, that mankind does not possess the fear of the Lord.

So, we find ourselves cut off from these blessings and benefits in our own, natural selves. What we need is someone to mediate these blessings to us, someone who does all that is necessary to obey and someone who in fact “fears the Lord” perfectly – we need Christ!

Seeking to read this OT text as Christians, where do we find Christ in such a passage?

So where is Christ in a text that doesn’t mention him explicitly by name? Jesus is the explanation of how God can both be just & holy, and yet not repay us for our iniquities (v.10). Jesus as our mediator and representative is the explanation as to how God shows steadfast love and compassion to the wicked (v.11 &13). There is also an implicit seed that will be made clear, only in the days of Christ. (Jesus connects with “LORD”, with is I am sayings) Returning to those three declarative statements we can see how Jesus, as God, likewise is described by the same words of David.

• Jesus works righteousness & justice for all those oppressed by sin & Satan – All who sin are slaves to sin (John 8:34), but just as God did in the Exodus, Jesus brings freedom and deliverance for his people as he comes to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8)
• Jesus embodies the mercy, grace, & patient love of God – Ephesians 2:4-5 summarize the sending of the Son by God the Father, as the greatest act of love and the greatest of His redemptive deeds for his people.
• Jesus is the preeminent king, the Lord of all, who reigns from Heaven – All authority has been given to Christ, and every knee will bow before his rule & reign.

Psalm 103 shows us the benefits of regularly remembering God’s mighty, redemptive deeds. The work of Christ on the Cross has now become the greatest of God’s redemptive deeds – and we come to receive those benefits through trusting in, resting in what Jesus has accomplished. B/c of Christ, we have countless reasons to join with David and the church across all the ages saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul”