Psalm 103
This morning we are going to be in Psalm 103. Psalm 103 provides the foundation for the song we just sang. The song is an interesting one because at the heart of it is a personal call, a call to our own souls. We are preaching to our souls to praise the Lord no matter what circumstances may come. We don’t know exactly when or why David wrote this Psalm contextually, but what we’ll see is that it is an intimate moment as David reflects on who God is and how He worked in his life.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul…”
“The sun comes up…it’s time to sing our song again…whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes…”
“You’re rich in love, you’re slow to anger, your name is great, your heart is kind, you are good…and because of who you are, I will keep singing. Not only that, but I will continually search for more, 10,000 more in fact.”
And then I love the last verse. “On that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come…”
And then, beyond the grave I will praise the Lord for 10,000 years and then forever!
The call for our souls to bless the Lord, to continually praise the Lord…are we convinced that He is worth it? When we hear this kind of encouragement, are we compelled to follow through? What David does in Psalm 103 is lay out the motivation behind the call to worship. Why should I preach worship of the Lord to my soul? Why should I beckon the depth of my being to exalt the Lord every day, in every circumstance, until I die, and then forever?
Big Question: What Motivates My Worship?
Read Psalm 103
We can break this up into a few different sections. The Psalm begins and ends with the call to Bless the Lord. Worship the Lord. In verses 2-14, we see the character and nature of Gods. We’ll work through that together. In verses 15-18, we see a contrast between humanity and the Lord. And then finally in verses 19-21 we see David turn his attention to the heavens. Let’s work through this together.
Question 1: What Has God Done in My Life?
When we ask this question we tend to immediately go to redemption, salvation, freedom…anything that corresponds with new life in Jesus. Absolutely, yes, we need to be blown away every day that this is our reality. What I’d like for us to think about as well, is what has God done in your life this week, this past month, the last few years? Let that question simmer as we work through some of what David claims for the work of God in His life.
Forgives All Your Iniquity (3)
Not just some. Not just a select few iniquities. All. How are we forgiven? In Ephesians 1:7, Paul tells us “In him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” In and through the blood of Jesus, we have forgiveness of our sins. In order to receive forgiveness we need to confess that we have done wrong and need Jesus (1 John 1:7).
David expounds on forgiveness in verse 12 of our Psalm this morning. He paints a picture of the extent of forgiveness (Read vs. 12). As far as the East is from the West. We can’t even fathom the distance between East and West, and I think that’s the point. If you imagine a line that extends to the East and does not have an ending point, and then imagine the same to the West, the chasm between our limited perception of where those points might end, that’s how far God casts our sins away from us. The main idea is that they are gone forever, never to be found again.
Heals All Your Diseases (3)
We’ve talked about the difficulty of this truth before. We believe that God is the Great Healer. We see this all throughout the Gospels. Jesus heals physical disease. We also know that God is intimately involved in our lives. We don’t believe that God is distant. We don’t believe that He is uninvolved. We believe that He is intimately involved in creating us, Psalm 139 tells us that. And we believe that God continues to be intimately involved in our lives while we walk this Earth. This means that we believe that God has the power and ability to heal us of our diseases. However, we know that this doesn’t always happen like we want. This also doesn’t always happen on this Earth. Sometimes that healing comes when we leave this world and enter into perfection, where there is no sickness, no pain.
Redeems Your Life from the Pit (4)
Redemption. “The action of being saved from our sins.” Redemption. “The action of regaining possession of something in exchange for a payment.” Redemption. God regaining possession of us in exchange for the blood of Jesus. You want to talk about the pit? We were dead in our trespasses, with no heartbeat. No hope of life. Paul tells us this in Romans. We are born into the pit and remain there until we place our faith in Jesus. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, He provided a way towards redemption. When we confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, a great transaction occurs. In that moment we enact the power of the blood of Jesus and our sins are forever forgiven. In that moment, we are redeemed back into the family of God. We are snatched out of the pit, and we are “crowned with steadfast love and mercy.
Crowns You with Steadfast Love and Mercy (4)
We have been given the promise of steadfast, never ending, strong, unconditional love. We have been given mercy, a withholding of what we deserve because of our sins in light of what Jesus has done. We can count on being loved through our mistakes. We can count on God withholding his judgment because He looks at us and sees the righteousness of Jesus. Not only that, but “He satisfies us with good.”
Satisfies You with Good (5)
God gives us complete fulness of satisfaction. Nothing else in this world can satisfy like the Lord. His satisfaction contains permanence. While the pleasures of this world might give us temporary relief or short-lived satisfaction, there is nothing that can fill the emptiness that we might feel like the presence of God. And those things that the Lord satisfies us with are good things.
James 1:17 - “Every good and perfect gift comes from above.”
Luke 11:13 - “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
David turns from a very personal, what he has seen God do in his life, to what he knows to be true about how God works in the lives of others.
Works Righteousness for the Oppressed (6)
God is a God who cares about the oppressed. We see this over and over again in Scripture. In Psalm 9 we see that God is a stronghold for the oppressed. In Psalm 10 He does justice for the oppressed. This is a promise for all those who are oppressed. Think about the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt. They were oppressed. They were treated unfairly and weighed down by their oppressors. Even though they remained there for 430 years…
Exodus 3:7-8 - Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” This is what comes to mind when David writes verse 7 as well in referencing Moses.
When I reflect on the last few years in my life, here’s just a few ways that God has worked:
In the midst of confusion after leaving our previous ministry in faith, God paved the way and provided clarity for Family Church. He gave us a specific location, specific people, specific resources, specific mission and vision, and has continued to work in those ways to this day.
God granted me a sense of peace and calm in the midst of a trying season of anxiety over the last year.
We wanted to get the girls into their current school, Heritage Leadership Academy, but there is a massive waitlist to get in. Through provided a teaching position for Jade, we were able to get past the waitlist and into the North Raleigh campus of the school. But then, He opened the door for the girls to be at the Apex campus. So we praise Him for that.
I can look into the lives of others and see how He has worked!
He saved Everly and we were able to baptize her last Summer
If you know Chris’ story over the last few years and were able to sit under his preaching last week, the testimony of the Lord’s care and faithfulness in his life was on full display. Praise God.
My friend David that sits down front every week, the Lord literally saved his life. Had a heart attack and flat lined, but they brought him back and here he is today. The Lord is intimately involved in our lives.
Question 2: What Attributes of God Have Resonated with Me Lately?
David shifts a bit from what God does to who God is. Based on how God has worked in my life, what can be said about who He is? So what does David claim as truth?
Is Merciful and Gracious (8)
To put it simply, mercy is God withholding the punishment that we deserve, and grace is God giving us that which we do not deserve. Couple those together and it’s pretty awesome. We deserve judgment for our sins, but instead God gives us Jesus. Mercy can also be defined by compassion towards the destitute and hopeless. You think David might have felt this ring true when he was on the run from Saul?
Is Slow to Anger (8)
Long-suffering. Patient. Allowing us to make mistakes without coming down hard on us. Like the father in the prodigal story, He allows us at times to turn our backs on Him and pursue other things that we think might fulfill or satisfy. He suffers-long while we fight against our flesh and sometimes cave in to it’s desires.
Is Abounding in Steadfast Love (8)
Abounding. Overflowing. Giving us more than we need or deserve, love. Steadfast. Secure. Strong foundationally. Not wavering. Not conditional. Love. No matter what I do, His love abounds. No matter how many times I fail to love Him in my words and deeds, His love abounds. And like a perfect loving Father He deals compassionately with His children.
Deals Compassionately with His Children (13)
Compassion carries with it the idea of seeing a need, being affected by that need, and then acting to fix or fill that need. If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to take care of the basic needs of your children. But, there is also a place for observing other struggles, especially with teenagers, stepping into their struggles and gently guiding and loving them through it. Compassion.
Knows Us Intimately (14)
We talked a little about this earlier with God healing all diseases. But listen, God knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows what we need before we know we do. He knows what’s best for us even if we disagree. He knows the hairs on our head and the time we have on this earth down to the millisecond. He knows our hurts. He knows our pain. He knows our mental struggles. He knows our brokenness. And there is no one else on the planet that that can be said of in our lives.
David tells us in verses 17-18 that God never changes. That these attributes are just as true today as they were then. From everlasting to everlasting. From eternity past to eternity future.
I ask again. What attributes of God have resonated with you lately? Has He proven to be compassionate? Faithful? Slow to Anger? Gracious? Protector? Sustainer? Strength in weakness?
What motivates your worship? What is it about the Lord that leads you to a place of worship?
Bless the Lord O my soul, and everything that is within me! Bless His holy name.
