Psalm 103 & My Thoughts

Yesterday, the day of my hernia surgery I was laying in bed and looked over to see something that I haven't been cracking open as of late, or not as much as I would like to, you may know it, it's called The Holy Bible a.k.a. The Word of God.

I turned to Psalm 103 and read this:

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless His Holy Name!

I realized that I need to bless the LORD, I have to tell my soul, "Soul, bless the LORD!" It's a daily thing, it's a dangerous delight, yes it is duty but not a duty as a mundane, boring and insignificant duty. I like how John Piper says it, it's a dangerous duty of delighting in God. So, after I read this I went on:

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,

Now, as a good follower of the Word of Faith movement that I used to be, this was a scripture used to prove that God always blesses us with the things we ask for in faith, but for me it's not necessarily important to have all you want. I need what God wants for me. I want what God wants for me. Oh, did I mention I had surgery, yeah...if God wanted to heal me, He would have and I do believe doctor's are a blessing of the Lord to. Yes, they are human and make mistakes but so far, so good ;)

The other thing I noticed, again, from this text is the fact that we DO FORGET His benefits, but what are they, keep reading:

who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,

Let me just add here that I do believe in healing, I do believe God heals but the last time I checked, the death ratio is still 1:1, we are ALL going to die. In fact, God does heal and death is not a final thing for believers, and in saying believers I mean those who walk and live by Jesus Christ putting their full faith, trust and lives into His hands. We could have never fulfilled the law of God on our own, Jesus had to do something and He did it all and initiates salvation with us. Like a man who pursues a woman to woo her to himself, so Christ does and did for us that very thing on Calvary when He died and then rose again...the Soon coming King. Also, I didn't have a disease, it was a hernia...so lets says this scripture works on all diseases, it wouldn't work on injuries sustained. To me, a disease would be something like leprosy, rash, etc. I don't know the working definition of this word in the Hebrew and I could be wrong but this is just me ranting about the insidious pride I used to have while being in the Word of Faith movement and dogmatically asserting that God does heal all.

And, so it goes on to say:

who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like eagle's.

Take a moment and think about this...what an awesome God we serve, what a gracious, loving Heavenly Father we have! He redeems, crowns and satisfies! No drug, no pornography, no living person, no TV show, no food, no drink could promise us that...ever!

When I first left my habitual sins of pornography and masturbation behind coupled with issues with homosexuality it was as I had been in a pit, literally. That is the only way I could describe it. God reached down and picked me up out of that pit that I could have never gotten out of because it was so deep. It was like a light switch came on, I could actually see my depravity in those areas (I am still learning how sin has affected my whole being and without Christ and God's grace I would succumb to other sins as well).

I don't know about you but to the sound of it, someone redeemed from a pit doesn't seem to deserve a crown but God is a gracious giver of all good things. He satisfies us with good, God is good. So, who am I being satisfied by, who are you being satisfied by according to this verse...God and God alone. If something else could satisfy me then God would be a liar b/c something ELSE would be better, more good than He is, and there is no one who compares with Him. He is good, He is the reward and He is my satisfaction. It continues:

The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.

"That's me!" God works out my righteousness, gives me righteousness through Jesus Christ by sealing me with His Holy Spirit. I was oppressed but now I am justified and have peace with God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. In Christ, in Him I am made righteous. My righteousness was like filthy rags and Jesus replaced them with the pure and holy robe of righteousness.

He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.

His ways are higher than our ways and His acts/deeds are might indeed! Look what He has done for me: redeemed me, crowned me, satisfied me, gave me His righteousness through His Son! What GIVER God is for us all! Wait, there is more:

The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will He keep his anger forever.

Breathe a sigh of relief people. God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounds in love, doesn't always chide us and does NOT keep his anger forever. How? How can God not be mad angry at us wretched sinners? Jesus Christ. He fulfilled our righteousness and removed the wrath of God off of His children by dying for our wretched wickedness through which we sinned against the LORD. We sinned, not just among and against others but we ultimately sinned against a Holy God who can not have unholiness in His presence. Jesus made it possible for us...isn't this wonderful! It's the gospel, good news!

Here is the sentence that got to me yesterday (tears streaming down my face, just repentance being granted to my still wandering heart):

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

Pause

Seriously, take a minute and think about that (I'll wait...)

Wait

Okay....there is more to this:

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

We DO NOT get what we deserve for our wicked, wretched, evil, sinful hearts and minds. God who is gracious gifts us with a redeemed life, a crown of life on our heads, satisfying us with the only "thing" that will satisfy, namely Himself through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

I broke down yesterday as I laying in my bed. I have been hateful to certain people, I have gossipped and slandered people who have hurt me or those who simply don't like me. I got my feelings hurt and what do I do? Gossip about them, tell others what they did to me. HA! Look at what I did against GOD! I sinned against a holy and righteous God! I am guilty before my Lord! He granted me such a sweet and repentant heart, broke my pride down like a wall and stormed the gates of my heart. My goodness, who wouldn't want more of God?!

It goes on to say:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

This Psalm is just a Psalm of benefits. When we get God we get these benefits. Of course, we should NOT go to God just for His benefits but in having a real relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, we receive these by His gracious holy love. God knows we need Him and He knows what we need!

I need my sins to be removed far from me, as far as the east is from the west. East will never meet west and west will never meet east...what a great picture that is of God's forgetfulness of our sins. I don't know how that works but I know it does b/c His Word is true and His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways. Thank goodness! His ways are high ways!

Look at this picture painted for us:

As a father shows compassion to his children
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame (or how we are framed)
He remembers that we are dust.

Stop reading self-help books, you can't help yourself! HA HA! That is good news too!!! Jesus has shown us the Father and He is compassionate, loving, gracious, giving, forgiving and awesome! God the Father sent God the Son so we could get help and then they both just kept on giving and gave us the Holy Spirit to help us along the way while we are here on earth. We are just dust but we are filled with His most Holy Spirit! I guess we could be called Spirit dust, ha ha!

As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.

God is eternal, He knows everything, He is all powerful and He is Sovereign of all things. We are man; dust, earthen vessels, temporary, fading like a flower in the field, like the grass that is here one day and gone the next. To have God is to have eternity and live forever, even though we died physically, which is much better b/c of whom we will be with, to be dead spiritually is a much worse fate. Dead people can't believe in God, dead people don't choose God but God chooses us in His love, in His grace, in His mercy, in His steadfast love that abounds and is never ending. Ask God to wake you up from the dead, turn on the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, remove the blinders from your eyes and give you a new heart!

But the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear Him and His righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep His covenant
and remember to do His commandments.

I see that it is IN His STEADFAST LOVE that I can keep His covenant and remember to do His commands. What did Jesus says were the ultimate commands?

1) Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself

On all these hang the Law and the Prophets. If we love God and love people we will not steal, kill, cheat, lie or commit any other sins against God or others. Of course, we are human and we will mess up (sin) from time to time but God is gracious and He forgives when we ask Him and then if we have wronged someone else, we go to them in a spirit of meekness and humility and ask them to forgive us as well.

The LORD has established His throne in the Heavens,
and His kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, O you His angels,
you mighty ones who do His Word,
obeying the voice of His Word!

Bless the LORD, all His hosts,
his ministers, who do His will!

Bless the LORD, all His works,
in all places of His dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Take rest, God is in control, nothing is out of His hand. He will not let one of His own be snatched from His hand. We are safe and secure in the love of God. Go to Him, run to Him! Fear Him in reverence and awe! God also blesses us with angels to minister to us and for us and are sent to help us fight battles along the way. God sends those angels, they are just doing the work they are commanded to do. So, don't get all weird and start worshiping angels :) They are for us but only b/c God is for us and loves us.

I hope this blessed you like it did me. I know it's long but even if you don't read what I wrote about Psalm 103, then maybe you can just read it yourself and allow God to speak to your heart and heal you and offer you forgiveness where it is needed.

By His grace and for His glory alone,

Tyler Nuzum