Psalm 103
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” (v. 2)
The Lord wants us to remember our blessings, or, as we would say nowadays, “count your blessings”. He goes on in the next several verses to list many of those blessings in order to help us to remember them; all we have to do is read it.
In v. 3, we see He forgives all our iniquities. That alone is worth shouting about; that is what makes the difference between Heaven and hell for us. Also, we see that It is He who heals all our diseases. We have a healing then of the spiritual realm, and a healing for the physical realm in Him.
In v. 4 He reminds us that we are living only by His grace. We live and move and have our being in Him, and by His grace alone. It is He who keeps us alive, and not our futile efforts. Here too, we see that He has innumerable blessings for us of various kinds. I’m sure we could think of many of them if we take tome to think about it. The Lord calls them “loving kindness” and “tender mercies” and they cover a wide range of blessings.
In v. 5, he provides many “good things” for our nourishment and for our pleasure. He gives us the strength that our bodies need to function every day, and made the body so that it will take out the nutrients, and cast out the drought. Our “youth” is renewed and we are refreshed each time we replenish the needed nutrients of our bodies.
He executes judgment where it is due, and avenges the oppressed, taking up our cause against our enemies. (v. 6).
Then, in v. 7, He reminds us that He did for others, and He will do it for us too! What a wonderful blessing that is, but that is not all…
He let’s us know that He is slow to anger; that He is merciful and gracious, and kind. This is the way God wants us to see Him, although we need to know that He is fierce in judgment too. All judgment aside, He is plenteous in mercy. Our God will not condone sin and disobedience. He will not tolerate rebellion, but He is gracious, so gracious, and plenteous in mercy to us who do not deserve it.
He will not hold His anger long, and will not chide with us forever; (v. 9) and hath not dealt with us anywhere near what we deserve. (v. 10). We have a lot to praise God for, so let us be mindful to do it on a regular basis.