Forget Not All His Benefits: Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

David commands himself to worship. My soul—attention directed inward. All my inmost being—nothing held back. Every faculty summoned to praise.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Forget not. The danger is always forgetting. The benefits pile up, become familiar, fade from memory. David speaks against spiritual amnesia.

Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

The benefits enumerated. Forgiveness first—all sins. Then healing—all diseases. Complete remedy for guilt and ailment.

Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

Redeemed from the pit—the grave, destruction, hopelessness. And then crowned—royalty imagery. Love and compassion as coronation gifts.

Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Satisfaction. Good things. Youth renewed. The eagle, ancient symbol of vigor, molting and emerging fresh. The satisfied soul stays young.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Corporate blessing. Not just individual—the oppressed receive righteousness and justice. God takes sides.

He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.

Revelation remembered. Moses got the ways—the deeper understanding. Israel got the deeds—the visible acts. Both were grace.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

The character summary from Exodus 34, when God proclaimed his name to Moses. Compassionate. Gracious. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. This is who God is.

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.

Not always accusing. Not harboring anger. The discipline comes, but it ends. The anger passes.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

The great disconnect. What we deserve versus what we receive. Sin demands one thing; God gives another. Justice would condemn; mercy spares.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.

Immeasurable love. The distance from earth to heaven—unfathomable—measures God's love. Only those who fear him know it.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

The distance of removal. East from west—not north from south, which eventually meet. East and west never converge. Our sins are that far gone.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Father compassion. Children stumbling, failing, crying. The father's heart moves. So God's heart moves toward us.

For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

He knows. He remembers. We are dust—fragile, temporary, weak. God factors our frailty into his expectations.

The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Grass again. Flower of the field. Wind blowing. Gone. Even the place forgets us. We are that temporary.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children.

But. The counter to our brevity. From everlasting to everlasting. The love that outlasts grass, outlasts generations, outlasts memory.

With those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

Conditions named. Those who keep covenant. Who remember to obey. The love is certain, but it has a context.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Throne established. Kingdom ruling. Over all—nothing excepted. The sovereign context for everything else in the psalm.

Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

Angels summoned. Mighty ones called. Those who do his bidding—they too must praise. The worship expands beyond earth.

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.

Heavenly hosts added. All servants included. The universe joins the praise.

Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

All works. Everywhere. The whole creation summoned. Every molecule, every galaxy, every creature.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Back to the beginning. From cosmic worship to personal worship. All creation praised. Now my soul. The individual voice rejoining the universal chorus.