Bless the Lord, my soul!

Psalm 103 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Bless the Lord, my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
² Bless the Lord, my soul,
And do not forget any of His benefits;
³ Who pardons all your guilt,
Who heals all your diseases;
⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with favor 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 deeds to the sons of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
⁹ He will not always contend 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 guilty deeds.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings 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 form;
He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
Like a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place no longer knows about it.
¹⁷ But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him,
And His justice to the children’s children,
¹⁸ To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts, so as 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 angels,
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, my soul!

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus says: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” In today’s text the psalmist says: Bless the Lord, my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Far too often we seek the blessing of the Lord, when we should instead seek first to bless the Lord. In John 14:15 Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” If we truly love God with our whole heart soul and mind, then with all that is within us, we should seek to bless Him. We should be obedient to Him and His will. If we want to be blessed, in psalm 37:4 the psalmist says: Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. In Matthew 6:31-33 Jesus says: “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.”  All that we need, all that we could ever desire is already ours in the kingdom of heaven. Ephesians 1:3 says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 

The psalmist says: Bless the Lord, my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; Who pardons all your guilt, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit…  If all that God did for us was to pardon our sins and redeem us from the pit of our unrighteousness, that should be enough for us to be eternally thankful to Him; to bless the Lord for all that He has done. He has done so much more for us though. He heals all of our diseases. Bless the Lord who crowns you with favor 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… The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always contend 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 guilty deeds. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust. As for man, his days are like grass; Like a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place no longer knows about it. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him, And His justice to the children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts, so as to do them. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.  We need not to seek what God will do for us. We need to rest in what He has already done. On the cross, Jesus said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) All the blessings of God; all of His benefits for us, are already fully accomplished in Christ. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray saying: Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We need only to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the blessings and benefits will be given to us, here on earth as it is in heaven.  

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 angels, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, my soul!   Amen. 

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman (Best Worship Song Ever) (with Lyrics) - YouTube  Amen.