Psalm 103
Forget Not His Benefits
The gospel isn’t just for Sundays.
We need to hear the truth of God’s grace and righteousness not just for one hour a week but as a daily reminder to fuel us in our pilgrim walk following our Lord Jesus.
And this is done by preaching the truth of the gospel to ourselves.
Of David.
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!
There are three main directions in which we sing through the Psalms. There are songs sung directly to God (eg Psalm 23.4; 145.1). Other songs are aimed at our fellow saints and surrounding world (eg Psalm 130.7 & 49.1). But here in v1, we see this is a song targeted at our own personal souls.
It is not just the soul which is summoned to bless God but the whole person. Here is an echo to Deuteronomy 6.5, where the people of God are called to love God with all their soul and all their might. This is what Jesus said is the great commandment (Matthew 22.37-38). Therefore, in speaking to our souls in this way, we are merely echoing the words of our Lord. God is worthy of single souled devotion and full hearted worship.
What fuels this worship? It’s the good news of God’s grace to us (2). It is the purposeful remembrance of all the benefits of the gospel to those who have rested their hopes in Christ.
This grace is outlined in five beautiful ‘Who’ statements. The one who we bless is the one who:
Forgives iniquity
Heals diseases
Redeems us from the pit
Crowns us in steadfast love and mercy
Satisfies us with goodness
As New Covenant believers, we know, receive and experience these benefits through Jesus Christ. For example, when a paralysed man was lowered through a ceiling by his friends, Jesus forgave him his sin. To prove it to the doubting and cynical Scribes present, Jesus healed the man, demonstrating he not only had the power to make the lame walk but also to forgive truly and wholly the transgressions of his people (Mark 2.1-12). All our iniquity is blotted out through the death of Jesus, where our sins were nailed finally and fully on the cross (see Colossians 2.13-14). And so when we call on our souls not to forget these benefits, we are calling on our souls to remember Jesus and all he has achieved for us.
The main body of the Psalm (6-18) is constructed around two contrasts, which each illumine the beauty of the gospel.
First, God’s mercy shines against the darkness of our hearts. We are those who have committed sin, iniquity, and transgression (10, 12). ‘Sin’ speaks of more general offences against God, ‘iniquity’ of the perverseness of our actions, while ‘transgression’ is an intentional trespassing onto forbidden ground.
Yet, in this Psalm, as we take it as our own in Christ, we remind ourselves of the manifold grace of God. He is merciful and gracious, reiterating God’s self-description when forgiving Israel after making the golden calf (Exodus 34.6-7). He will not forever scold (9), for he will not count our wrongdoing against us (10), because his steadfast love is higher far than the tally of our sins (11), meaning our sins are cast away to a realm of eternal forgetfulness (12). He does this because he is our Father, who is compassionate to us in our weakness and brokenness and sinfulness (13-14).
Second, God’s eternal love is radiant when next to our decaying lives. Here we are reminded that our lives are like grass and flowers. Growing, blossoming and flourishing one moment. Ripped up and blown away by the wind the next (15-16).
God’s love though is from everlasting to everlasting (17-18). As the Dutch theologian Geerhardus Vos wrote, “The best proof that God will never cease to love us lies in that he never began.” We all know what has a beginning has an ending. But if God’s love for us never began, it cannot have an ending. In an ever changing world, this is a soul steadying truth. How God loves you now is the way he loved you before the world was created and will be the same in the world when it is recreated (see Ephesians 1.4).
A heart enraptured with the grace of God then overflows calling on others to see and celebrate his everlasting love (20-22). The focus that was on persuading the soul to sing now moves outwards as we call on the angels, heavenly powers and armies, his ministers, and the whole of creation to join our souls to bless God.
Therefore, let us say with our souls and all that is within us,
Glory be to God the Father, who shows compassion on us in our weakness.
Glory be to God the Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who renews us with strength like the mighty eagle of the skies.
Ever three and ever One.
Home Group: Ecclesiastes 1.12-2.26
How would you define happiness? Where do we find it in this world?
What are the different avenues that the Preacher has explored looking for happiness which lasts? Have you ever invested in any of these same happiness strategies?
Why do none of these work according to the Preacher? What imagery does he use to describe these efforts?
Right at the end, the Preacher suggests a different approach to life (2.24-26). What is it and how might that look in our own lives?
Look at Matthew 6.19-24 and Luke 12.13-21. How does Jesus’s teaching complement and advance the Preacher’s observations here?