All that is within me, bless His holy name.

Psalm 103 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!

In John 4:24 Jesus says:  "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."   There is a depth and a truth that must be part of our worship which goes beyond, is deeper than, is more true than what we can do in our own minds and by our own will. Worshipping in spirit takes us beyond the circumstances and situations we are in. We don’t worship and praise God only because things have gone well and we feel blessed. Neither do we worship Him and seek Him because we are desperate and at the end of our own abilities. We worship God in spirit because our spirit recognizes and acknowledges God’s majesty, His splendor; we worship God in spirit because regardless of our circumstances, He is worthy.

In today’s text, the psalmist says:  Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul...   While it is true that we must worship God in spirit and in truth, it is also necessary that we, like the psalmist, would also cause or command our soul, our mind, our emotions and our will to bless God. It is in our soul that we have a choice and we must act upon that choice. When all that is around us is shaken; when we don’t feel blessed, we still can choose to bless the Lord. The psalmist says: all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Regardless of what it is that is within us, if there be sickness, then in our sickness we bless the Lord. If there be depression or despair, then our depression and despair must bless the Lord. If we have fear, anxiety, worries or doubt, they too must bless the Lord. All that is within us should bless His holy name. Philippians 2:10 says:  At the name of Jesus (His holy name) every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.   We must choose that all those things that are within us should bow to and bless the name of Jesus.

The psalmist continues:   Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. Which of us could list all of the benefits of the Lord?  If we were to try, we would fill endless pages. Our prayers and declarations of God’s goodness and faithfulness, of His love and compassion, of His mercy, His grace, His protection and provision, all of His benefits, would go from our first waking moment, to our final though at night. Lamentation 3:22-23 says:  The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  Each day we would and we should start anew to bless the Lord and forget not all His benefits.

The psalmist ends saying:  The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!    Indeed the Lord’s sovereignty rules over all and creation has no choice but to bless and be obedient to the Lord. The sun, the moon, the stars, every living thing does what God has created and ordained them to do. We alone, of all of God’s creation, have a choice. Like the psalmist, regardless of my situation or my circumstance, I say: Bless the Lord, O my soul! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul.  Amen

May this song be our prayer and declaration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E