Psalms Lesson 9

Overview

Bless the Lord, O My Soul: A Study of Psalm 103

Psalm 103 opens with David calling his entire being into worship: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." This echoes the great command to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength Deuteronomy 6:5. To bless God's name is to praise Him for who He has revealed Himself to be. When the Lord proclaimed His own name to Moses, He declared Himself "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness," yet "by no means clearing the guilty" Exodus 34:6-7. God is not a sentimental, whimsical deity, nor a merely wrathful one. He is eternally merciful and eternally just. Both belong to His character, always.

David then urges, "do not forget all his benefits." Every good thing we have—breath, heartbeat, food, clothing, family, work, neighbors, government, the very fact that we are sitting upright today—comes from God's fatherly goodness and mercy. Among these benefits, the forgiveness of sins is named first, before even the healing of diseases. That order matters. Without pardon for sin, no other benefit can finally satisfy us. Because Christ has secured our forgiveness, we can pray for healing this side of heaven while resting in the certainty that we are already eternally healed in Him. The good news of forgiveness is never out of reach for anyone still drawing breath.

The heart of the psalm is its declaration of God's astonishing mercy: "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." What we deserve for rebellion is banishment and wrath; what we receive in Christ is immeasurable love. A pastoral word follows from this: when the Lord declares your sin forgiven, do not try to take it back. Many of us are tempted to pull our sins down off the cross and hang them again around our necks, wallowing in a weight Christ has already carried away. You have no right to steal your sin from Jesus. He has borne it, conquered it, and removed it from you as far as the east is from the west.

This same God knows us intimately. He knit us together in our mothers' wombs and saw every day formed for us before one of them came to be Psalm 139:13-16. He remembers that we are dust, having formed the first man from the ground and breathed life into him (Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19). He knows our frame better than we know ourselves—and still He chooses compassion. The psalm closes where it began, summoning angels, hosts, and all His works to bless the Lord, with the soul of the believer joining that cosmic chorus: "Bless the Lord, O my soul." His throne is established in the heavens; His kingdom rules over all; and we, dust though we are, have been forgiven, redeemed, crowned with steadfast love, and renewed like the eagle. Praise Him.

Transcript

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much for Your grace. 3s

We thank You for being the God that You are. 6s

We thank You that You are the God of creation. 10s

You are the God of redemption and You are the God that continues to sustain us this side 14s

of heaven. 19s

Lord, we ask that You bless this time of study together, that You would continue to 20s

use Your Word to open Yourself to us, that we would continue to grow in mature and 25s

faith, and that we would continue to love You and seek after You and Your will more 32s

and more. 38s

Lord, we thank You for Your Son. 39s

We thank You for the Holy Spirit that You give to us, and we thank You for this day. 43s

We lift this to You in the name of Jesus Christ. 49s

Amen. 51s

Okay. 53s

Okay, today we are going to study Psalm 103. 53s

Yay, Psalm 103. 58s

So please open to the book of Psalms. 59s

Psalm 103. 64s

I've said that a few times now, so I think we should all be able to get to there. 66s

One more time. 73s

103, Psalm 103. 74s

I guess that's technically two more times. 77s

Okay. 78s

So we're going to just go through this like we did with Psalm 23, where we just look 79s

at some chunks of verses together and work through them together. 88s

So it begins. 94s

This is a Psalm of David's, and it's a Psalm that lifts thanks to God for really being 96s

the God that He is and what He has done for us and what He continues to do for us. 104s

So we're going to go ahead and start with verses one and, well, we're going to go with 110s

one right now. 119s

Okay. 120s

So, oh, Dad, come, Aslan, can you run and grab me a small catacism, please? 120s

Thank you. 126s

See, it's really handy having a child in this. 127s

Thanks, son. 133s

Okay. 134s

So we're going to begin with verse one where David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit 135s

writes, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless 139s

the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 147s

This is a prayer that all of our thought, all of our affections, that all of our being 152s

is engaged with the Lord, that, you know, that it calls to mind in Deuteronomy, and then 162s

Jesus says, this is that command to love the Lord, our God, with all our might, all our 171s

heart, all our strength, all our mind. 178s

And it's, we come to love the Lord with our whole beings, everything that is within 179s

us and is us. 188s

So we continue, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 191s

So we're going to look at the name of the Lord. 197s

So let's go back to the book of Exodus. 201s

We're going to go back to Exodus chapter 34. 205s

I absolutely love, love, love, love, love, this portion of Scripture. 213s

So this is, this is when Moses is making the new tablets because he, he destroyed the 221s

first couple when, when he was angry with the Israelites for having built that golden 228s

calf and, and, and then Moses is getting these other two tablets. 234s

And he tells the Lord that he wants to see him. 240s

And the Lord says, you can't, you can't, but I'm going to go ahead and put you in this 243s

cleft of the rock. 250s

And, and I'm going to pass before you. 250s

And when I tell you, you can open your eyes, but I'm going to proclaim my name to you as 252s

I pass before you. 258s

And so this is where we have Exodus chapter 34 verse 6. 260s

This is as the Lord is passing before, before Moses. 264s

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, 269s

slow to anger and abounding instead, fast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love 277s

for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means 283s

clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's 290s

children to the third and the fourth generation. 296s

It's a really long name. 299s

This is the name of the Lord and really what we're getting here is the essence of who 302s

God is. 307s

He is proclaiming his name. 309s

You know, we have so much meaning in our names. 311s

We know who we are first in this world when people address us by our names. 313s

So that is one of the first recognitions that we have as we enter into this world that 320s

if someone says, you know, Donna, then Donna knew, oh, that's me. 328s

So that's where we're, oh, and there's Donna. 334s

So when Adlin heard me call her, so we are, we are recognized by our name. 338s

And so the Lord is saying, this is, this is who I am. 351s

This is how you know to call me or when you call me, when you speak my name, this is 355s

what you are proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, 362s

abounding instead, fast love and faithfulness. 370s

He is always and forever a merciful Lord, the merciful God, the one who is eternally 374s

a merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love. 384s

That is all the time gone. 388s

We also see that all the time he is forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by 394s

no means clearing the guilty, which means that he is eternally just. 402s

He is eternally just. 409s

You cannot have just a snugly happy whimsical God. 411s

You can't have just a vengeful, wrath-filled, angry God. 419s

You have God who is eternally merciful, eternally abounding instead, fast love, eternally 428s

abounding in love, forgiving iniquity and eternally just. 437s

Preach it. 443s

Eternally just. 446s

So we know that when he says that he is, I'm holding a hand here, where is it? 449s

In another, it's in another translation. 460s

It is here. 463s

Keeping steadfast love for the thousands generation. 464s

When he says that, the number 1000 is not mathematical here. 468s

It's not mathematical. 474s

It's really a statement of God's total ownership. 476s

In Psalm 50, he talks about owning the cattle on a thousand hills or a thousand cattle 479s

on a thousand hills. 493s

So we are blaming and speaking in Psalm 103, where we'll go back to now. 493s

When we are saying, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, everything that 500s

we are, we want to sing praise to the Lord. 508s

We want to bring praise and thanks to the Lord with everything that is in us, and we praise 512s

him for his holy name. 519s

We bless his holy name. 521s

We bless him. 523s

We praise him for being the God eternally merciful, the God eternally loving, the God eternally 524s

just, and that he has complete, complete ownership of all. 530s

He has complete ownership, complete protection of his people and all things. 539s

So let's move on to verse 2. 547s

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. 550s

Do not forget all his benefits. 556s

So as we praise the Lord for being the God that he is, we also remember to have a 559s

grateful remembrance of all that he has done for us, and what has he done for us, everything, 569s

as long as taking a long time. 578s

So hold on, I don't think I have the small catechism in this. 582s

All right, oh thank you John Barley. 586s

Okay, so in the small catechism, as we look at the explanation that is given for you, 588s

for each petition of the Lord's prayer, we come to the Lord's prayer, petition number 599s

4, and it talks about, you know, give us this day our daily bread. 604s

Oh bless you Adam, you are a peach, thank you. 609s

Yep, got it. 613s

Okay. 615s

All right, so thank you. 617s

So we're praying, you know, give us this day our daily bread, but the explanation, it says, 622s

well what's meant by daily bread? 627s

But daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the 628s

body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, 634s

a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, 640s

good government, good weather, peace, health, self control, good reputation, good friends, 645s

faithful neighbors, and the light. 650s

Okay. 653s

It is everything. 653s

I can, and I've had one to that. 659s

I have like hundreds of needs in my office. 663s

Okay. 671s

All right. 676s

So anyway. 677s

So everything, everything is provided for us by God. 678s

We praise Him for his benefits. 687s

We praise Him as it says, and we don't forget all his benefits because he gives us everything. 691s

In the small catechism, in the first article of the Apostles Creed, we have the, I've got, 699s

this is much waltier than the small one. 714s

So we've got, in the explanation of the first article, we've got, there we go, we have, 718s

I've got it, even better, fold it out by eight. 725s

This is the weirdest class right now. 730s

It all has the same. 738s

So if you ever need a small catechism, you can go to Adam, Aslan, Jessica and Veronica, 741s

or I promise I have them in my office. 750s

Okay. 754s

So in the Apostles Creed, we also read in the explanation that part of the benefits or 755s

the benefits that God has provided for us, we are saying that we believe God has created 762s

me and all that exists. 768s

So part of the benefits that He has provided is our very breath, our very life. 770s

He provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from 776s

day to day, God also protects me in time of danger and guards me from every evil. 780s

All this He does out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy. 786s

We thank the Lord and we remember all that He has done for us because everything is given 794s

to us out of His goodness and out of His mercy. 804s

The fact that we breathe is out of His mercy. 808s

The fact that our heart beats and we don't have to think about it is out of His mercy. 813s

The fact that we are sitting here today is out of His good mercy and benefit. 818s

And so we thank Him for that. 825s

We continue into verse three of Psalm 103. 828s

So we have said, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and do not forget all His benefits. 833s

So now we're going to look at some of these benefits who forgives all your iniquity, 837s

who heals all your diseases. 842s

Notice, notice that forgiveness of iniquity is mentioned before the healing of diseases. 845s

The forgiveness of sin trumps all. 855s

Without forgiveness of our sin, we have nothing and no one can forgive us our sin other than God Himself, 860s

other than the Lord. 871s

And so we thank Him. 873s

We thank Him for this benefit because it is for our benefit. 875s

By His grace, He forgives our sins. 881s

We're going to talk further about the forgiveness of our sins in a moment. 884s

But it's so important to remember that if we were not pardoned in our sin, 890s

if we had not been pardoned, then we really are not able to receive, 898s

knowing the benefit, the grace and the love that has been shown to us. 905s

I was just talking with someone recently about the grace of God and knowing that we are forgiven 911s

and that He walks with us and how sad and difficult it must be to walk this side of heaven, 921s

not knowing the grace of God. 930s

Not knowing how good and wonderful He is as our Creator, Redeemer, 933s

sustainer and to think that we're just wandering, who knows why, and when we die, it's done. 940s

That's a sad, sad and lonely way to exist. 951s

And so we praise the Lord that we have been made aware of the forgiveness of our sins. 957s

We praise the Lord that this side of heaven, it is never too late to hear that good news. 963s

Which is good news for us. 970s

If we have family or friends that are wandering this side of heaven without the Lord, 972s

it's not too late to share with them that good news that their sins have indeed been forgiven 982s

in Christ and Christ alone. And so that comes, that comes, and when we have that forgiveness and 988s

we rest in that forgiveness, then we know that when we pray for the healing of our disease, 997s

any sort of terrestrial illness, anything this side of heaven that we're experiencing, 1005s

we know that we are eternally healed already. 1015s

And so we pray and we lift prayers that we would be healed this side of heaven, 1021s

but we pray that the Lord, that His will would be done. 1026s

And we know that first and foremost His will is that our sins are forgiven. 1029s

And so we are eternally going to be in His presence eternally healed. 1033s

So that is very good. Good news for all. 1038s

Let's continue with verse four. 1044s

Who forgives all your equity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, 1049s

who crowns you with steadfast mercy or love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long 1055s

as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles that's going down into verse five as well. 1062s

So again, this is this is coming back over that beautiful promise that we have of forgiveness 1070s

of sin. And with this satisfying with good as long as you live, it makes me think of of Psalm 23 1076s

where David is saying that goodness and mercy will follow him all his days. 1086s

And in its that idea of being pursued by God's goodness and his grace. 1092s

And what do we hear from the Lord Jesus? He says that he goes to seek. 1099s

He has come to claim his sheep to claim the lost the sinner. 1105s

And so it is God who first seek, claims us, draws us to Himself and from there and out of that 1109s

love, then we are brought into worship of Him, into thanksgiving for Him, into seeking after Him, 1121s

after His will. I think it's really interesting this old age of the eagle. 1132s

So that the bottom of verse five so that your youth is renewed, sorry, like the eagles. 1139s

I think this is really kind of cool. So the Hebrew is not necessarily very clear on this. 1147s

And there are different Hebrew scholars again going to that, is it this or is it that? 1155s

They're Hebrew scholars who have varying ideas on what this is. But we know that the old age of an 1160s

eagle was used proverbily for a lively and vigorous old age. So it's kind of interesting that 1170s

coming out of not necessarily scripture proverbs, but out of the proverb of the age, 1180s

that that was an old eagle was looked at as a vigorous and blessed life. 1189s

And it's a promise then here of a long and comfortable life. Your youth is renewed like the 1197s

eagles. And we think of the eagle. It's a bird that is very strong, very majestic. 1205s

Actually, we have a hymn this morning on eagles' wings, beautiful hymn, by the way. Thank you. 1212s

And we know that the eagle is a symbol of strength and of majesty. And we know that in the Lord, 1218s

in the Lord alone, we are strengthened. We are lifted high. And we are able to have strength 1229s

that is outside of ourselves, that is not something that we can come up with for ourselves. And 1235s

how many times are we brought to our knees, praying, Lord, give me strength? I can't do this on my own. 1242s

And so we are promised that the Lord indeed does give us strength. 1254s

So then we go on. The Lord works, this is verse 6, the Lord works of indication and justice for 1261s

all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his act, to the people of Israel. We see 1268s

this throughout the Old Testament, how he showed his people in Israel, his way. He guided them even 1274s

when they were faithless. He was still faithful to them. They did have consequences, but he remained 1283s

faithful to them and he remained loving to them. The Lord is merciful and gracious, 1293s

low to anger and abounding instead fast love. Right out of Exodus, we hear that name of the Lord 1301s

being proclaimed again. He will not always accuse nor will he keep his anger forever. 1309s

Now we are going to shift into, and I think we have quoted these next few verses often, but they 1318s

are so key and so important in understanding our relationship with God or more importantly 1324s

understanding God's relationship with his children. Verse 10, he does not deal with us according 1333s

to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, 1340s

so great is his dead fast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, 1348s

so far he removes our transgressions from us. He may tide and rebuke his people. He may allow 1355s

some harsh consequences to take place for his people, but they aren't eternal. They don't last forever. 1369s

And he does not deal with us according to what we deserve. We hear in scripture over and over 1380s

that what we deserve for our unfaithfulness, what we deserve for our rebellion is complete 1389s

separation from the Lord. We deserve complete banishment. We deserve to be tossed out where there 1396s

is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We deserve the full wrath of the Father laid upon us, and yet he 1405s

doesn't deal with us according to our iniquity. He does not deal with us according to what we rightly 1411s

deserve, but he deals with us according to who he is. And we know he is merciful and gracious, 1420s

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And it continues that as far as the heavens 1429s

are high above the earth, so great is his love. This is really an image of something we can't even 1439s

grasp or think how far that is. It's immeasurable, or as far as the east is from the west, again, 1447s

completely immeasurable. This is how great the Lord's love for us is, and he removes our 1457s

transgression from us. So far that it wouldn't matter how long or how hard we tried to run and chase 1466s

after our transgression to cling to it, we could never catch up. And I say that because I don't know, 1477s

I mean, if you are a Christian that has been able to hear that you are forgiven and let it go and 1488s

be done, God bless you. That is a gift. I know my own walk in faith. There are many times where I try 1495s

to take my sins right back from Christ and hang them on my head again. And I want to 1504s

wallow in the weight of my sin when that has been promised to be lifted from me. 1512s

When that has been promised to be as far away from me as the east is from the west, 1519s

and the same is true for you when we confess our sins and we are told that we are forgiven, 1525s

that sin is no more. That sin is no more. And I say this lovingly, you have no right to steal your sin 1531s

from Jesus. It is no longer yours. He has held them and he continues to hold them and he has already 1546s

been victorious over them. And so we get to live in that freedom, not chasing after him, 1561s

but living in the grace and the mercy of God. We continue with verse 13. As a father has 1570s

compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him, for he knows how we 1582s

were made. He remembers that we are dust. If we keep our hand here and go to Psalm 139, 1589s

this is a beautiful word, beautiful word for us to hear. And I think this is, I will say I think 1597s

this is a really important one for especially for our teens and twings to know, because you know, 1607s

I think we all go through that weird period where we're like, I just feel weird in my own skin. 1618s

And I think that this is a beautiful, these are beautiful passages or beautiful verses to share. But 1624s

Psalm 139 beginning in verse 13, for it was you who formed my inward parts, you knit me together 1631s

in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works 1638s

that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, 1645s

intricately woven in the depth of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance in your book. 1651s

We're written all the days that were formed for me when none of them as yet existed. So if we go 1659s

intimately every aspect of our development from before we were born, he was present as we were 1674s

knit together in our mother's womb. He is so intimately involved and knowing us. So we trust and we 1685s

thank him. We thank him for knowing us so intimately. If we're honest, the Lord knows us better than we 1694s

know ourselves. And if he knows us better than we know ourselves, then he knows the depth and the 1703s

breadth of our sinful nature, what we think, what we say, what we do, what we don't do. And yet 1710s

we're still promised that he won't deal with us according to our iniquities, according to our 1720s

transgressions. If we keep our hands still on Psalm 103 and we go back to Genesis, because it says, 1730s

you know, in Fort 14, it says, he reminds, or he remembers that we are dust. If we go to Genesis 1738s

chapter 2, this is the first book in the Bible, Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, we read the Lord God, 1744s

formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life. And the 1755s

man became a living being. Man was formed from dust. It was God who made him alive. It was God 1762s

who put that breath in him and made him a being. If we go over to chapter 3 verse 19, this is after 1771s

sin had entered into creation and God is telling Adam, Eve, and the serpent, what the consequences 1781s

are. He's telling them the curse of bringing sin into creation in verse 19. He says, by the 1790s

sweat of your face, you shall eat bread until you return to the ground. For out of it, you were 1798s

taken, you are dust and to dust, you shall return. Let's go back to verse, or to Psalm 103. 1804s

So we know that the Lord knows how we were made. He knows how he, how he formed the very first 1815s

of our fathers. He knows how he formed Adam. He knows how we are formed and he knows that when we 1825s

part this world, our body and our soul are separated, he knows that our bodies will return to dust. 1835s

And we remember that we are dust. Okay, hold on a second here, I'm just checking the time. 1844s

Okay, so 1853s

yeah, yeah, okay, so let's jump down now. I think this is really appropriate for ascension 1861s

Sunday. So on Thursday, that was ascension day when when Christ ascended to the Father and today 1870s

is the day in the church when we celebrate that. And let's go to verse 19 of Psalm 103. The Lord 1877s

has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you 1883s

his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken world. Word, bless the Lord, 1890s

all his hosts, his ministers that do his will, bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his 1897s

dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul. And it ends at it as it began. We bless the Lord, we praise him 1903s

for being the God who he says he is. We praise him and thank him for being the God who is eternally 1911s

steadfast and mercy and love eternally forgiving our sins and eternally just. He is the God that we 1917s

can trust. He is the God that we turn to and he is the God that hears our every prayer. 1926s

Next week, I will be out of town so you will have another teacher but we will continue in the 1933s

souls. And I feel like there was something else I wanted to say but I don't think there is. So 1939s

God bless. 1946s