Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name

Psalm 103 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.   A Psalm of David.

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 none of His benefits;
³ Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;
⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
⁵ Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
⁹ He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
¹⁴ For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.                                          ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer.
¹⁷ But the lovingkindness 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 His precepts to do them.                                  ¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word!
²¹ Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will.
²² Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

It is important that we, like the psalmist would say; Bless the Lord O my soul. Romans 8:16 says:  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. But our soul also receives the testimony of our flesh, our soul is influenced by our mind and our free will. There are times when our flesh is suffering from sickness or injury, in our mind we may not think that we are blessed. Why then would we bless the Lord?  

The psalmist says:  forget none of His benefits; ³ Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; ⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; ⁵ Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.    Even when we might not be experiencing all of these things currently in our life, they are all true and the first one alone is enough that we should bless His name. God, through the finished work of the cross of Christ has pardoned all our iniquities. Verse 12 says:  As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

The psalmist tries to describe the eternal, infinite, all mighty God in human terms. He says: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him…  Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.   The truth is God’s greatness and His goodness are beyond human comprehension. It does not do justice to God to compare His compassion to even the best of earthly fathers. When we try to understand God in human terms we fall short of the fullness of His glory and goodness.  Jesus says:  ^“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know…  But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”(John 4:22-24) Too often people try to rationalize and understand God in human terms, they fail then to worship Him because they lower Him to human standards. They begin to believe in their heart that God is no different than themselves or others. Jeremiah 17:9 says: “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick…”  

We do need to bless the Lord with our souls, but as the psalmist says: Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. We need to bless Him and worship Him with everything that is within us. Jesus says: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

The greatest and foremost commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, with everything that is within us. It is first and foremost because we cannot do the second, loving our neighbor until we have done the first.  We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)  Anything we do in strictly human terms, through our own abilities can not measure up to what we are called to do in Christ. In Christ we are given the indwelling, abiding Spirit of God. We can say:  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)  We bless the Lord with our words, but we bless Him also with our lives, with all the things we do for and through Him.

Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.(John 14:15) His commandment is that we: shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’… shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  He also says:    Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit, I bless You today. My words are insufficient to describe You or my love for You. I bless You with everything that is within me. I love You with all of my heart, soul and mind. I pray that my life would also be a blessing to You. Amen.