See Psalm 103 in the Book of Psalms. I’ll be reading from the NIV.
Of David.
Somehow this psalm may be attributed to King David who was a man of God, perhaps the man of God when looking to the Old Testament.
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
David (or whoever wrote it) is speaking to himself. Twice. Or rather, he is speaking to his own soul, pleading it to praise God. Obvious from verse 1, “soul” does not refer to one particular department of his mind or body, but to “all my inmost being”. (Jews didn’t compartmentalise like 21st century Evangelicals tend to.)
He goes on to praising God by mentioning a number of great qualities. God is a forgiver, a healer and a redeemer. All these roles have to do with God working to save us. Other psalms tend to focus on Creation or God’s omnipotence or omniscience, but this one seems concerned with God’s plan of salvation in particular.
God gives us love and compassion – he crowns us, so actually he’s making us heirs of his kingdom – and he satisfies our needs and renews our youth.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
God is seen as a righteous judge working on behalf of the oppressed. “The oppressed” may refer to Israel, who he mentions in verse 7, or it may refer to all people feeling oppressed. I find the latter more liable.
One of the characteristics struck me in particular. God is “slow to anger”. He’s not waiting for you to mess up. If you sin, he doesn’t get upset straightaway. He’s patient with you. He’s working with you on a calm and constructive level in order to help you grow, not in a mad, demanding way that will only stress you. This is very much related to God being “abounding in love”.
Accordingly, he will not always accuse. This doesn’t mean that he overlooks things in the process or ignores them when they happen. The “always” is future-related as we also see in second part of verse 9, ‘nor will he harbor his anger forever’. Someday God will let go off the past. (Until then he will work with us.)
Verse 10 explains the very concept of grace. We won’t get the punishment that we deserve. The following verses elaborates this:
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
I love this. Just how high are the heavens above the earth? How long is the way to the top? Endless. Unceasing. Everlasting. And this is how much God loves those who fears him. Vertically.
How far is east from the west, then? Well, David knew no end. He never encountered a great wall of stone saying, ‘This is as far west as you can go’. God has removed our transgressions as far away as possible. Horizontally.
It may seem odd that it is already done (written in past tense). Because sins are still present and if God only throws away past transgressions, most of us are pretty lost anyway. The past tense may be to assure us that the promises of God are as sure as if they had already been fulfilled entirely. We always question the future, but rarely the past which is apparant. Thus, David writes this in past tense to prevent us from questioning God’s power to remove our sins from us. “Don’t ask if he will really do it, just consider it done already!”
Verse 13 echoes verse 11. God’s love is compared to that of a father.
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
Having described God in verses 3-13, David now turns his attention to humans. Verses 14-16 reminds us just how fragile we are as created beings. Dust, grass, a flower. It only takes wind, then we’re gone.
But God’s love remains for – yet again – those who fear him. So does his righteousness. Who are these people? According to verse 18, these are the people keeping his covenant and obeying his precepts. Some versions have “commandments” instead of “precepts”. A friend of mine might have read this and argued that she would not be included in this group seeing that she fails to obey God’s precepts.
Nor would David, I suppose. Or anyone else for that matter. But as this psalm has already demonstrated to us, grace is not for the sinless. If there are any sinless people, they don’t need grace logically speaking. While verses 14-16 remind us not to think too highly of ourselves, verses 3-5 reminded us of our miserable condition and God’s ways of saving us. The psalm’s main emphasis is God’s decision and power to save.
If we concluded from this psalm that God cannot or will not save us, we would’ve missed the whole point of the psalm. Because God’s power and willingness to save us in multiple ways because of his love and compassion, that is what made David encourage his soul and everyone else to praise the LORD.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Amen.
