Bless the Lord

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Scripture: Psalm 103:1-5 (The Message)

1–2        O my soul, bless God.

            From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!

            O my soul, bless God,

            don’t forget a single blessing!

3–5        He forgives your sins—every one.

            He heals your diseases—every one.

            He redeems you from hell—saves your life!

            He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.

            He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.

            He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.

 

Devotion:

            The psalm I have chosen for us today is a wonderful reminder to bless the Lord at all times and in all circumstances. I encourage you to get your Bibles out and read the whole psalm sometime today. I have chosen the Message translation to give us a different view of the Psalm than we get from more literal translations. But whatever translation you are using the message of God’s love toward us comes through loud and clear in this psalm.

 

            The palmist begins by urging us to bless the Lord with our whole body, mind, and soul. We are to count our blessings to us personally and praise God for them. The writer urges us to try and remember all the ways our God has blessed us during our lives. We are to remember them all in a prayer of thanksgiving that is never ending. As God continues to bless us each and everyday of our lives we should be in continual praise and thanksgiving toward God.

 

            We are to bless God because he forgives our sins. If God were not merciful and gracious in this way none of us could make it to heaven. Nor could we make through a single day without his forgiveness. God heals all our diseases. While it is true that we all will pass out of this life through the door of death we can rest assured that God cares for us in all our diseases and infirmities. So that the Christian can look forward to crossing that threshold between life and death knowing that on the other side of that door we will be permanently healed of all our diseases.

 

            He redeems us from hell. We have life eternal in God’s presence only because of Jesus death on the cross. There is no way we can adequately thank God for this blessing. We must humbly come before God and thank him for our salvation daily. As if our salvation was not enough of a good gift from God, he lavishes upon us love and mercy and wraps us up in his goodness.

 

            Finally, God provides renewing power over our lives. As we get older our bodies begin to fall apart and we begin to feel anything but youthful. But God assures us that even though the outward body may be failing he is working on the inside to make us youthful in his sight. And indeed, we will somehow appear in the next life as a youthful person.

 

Prayer:

            Lord God we lift our prayers of thanksgiving to your throne today and every day. We can barely remember all of your blessings you lavish upon us your humble servants. We pray that you will help our feeble memories to bring to mind all your many blessings to us. Help us live as joyful people because of all your goodness to us. Let us stir up one another to be a church that gives you thanks for your blessings. Amen.

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