Psalm 103: 7

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

God is not secretive; he shares himself with us.  I could say that because he reveals himself to us, it ensures that we worship him more.  But I don’t think that is God’s motivation.  He reveals himself and his heart to us because he wants the best for us.  He wants us to choose well for ourselves; he wants us to choose him, to include him and refer to him.  He wants to be best friends with us.  Incredible!

And it is because he shares himself with us that we fall more and more in love with him and then worship him more.  He woos us.  He is truly amazing.

Verse 8

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

These are his ways that he made known to Moses; he is compassionate, he is gracious, he does not anger easily and he is abounding in love.  I think King David (who wrote this Psalm) truly had a unique understanding of God at the time.  We look back at the Old Testament and think of it as being full of rules and regulations, structures and rituals, judgements and God’s wrath.  But David saw God ‘abounding in love.’

David saw release and freedom, space and salvation, justice and mercy.  How do we manage, with all the various Bible translations and books and modern teaching, to get it so wrong?  Because we do not let God make his ways known to us personally?

Verses 17-18

‘But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.’

His love is with us from everlasting to everlasting – from before the beginning to after the end.  This is my God, abounding with love and the same yesterday, today and forever.  Hallelujah!

Psalm 103:1

‘… all my inmost being …’

I can’t seem to get past this phrase!

All my inmost being is to praise his holy name.  What else could occupy my inmost being?  What else does occupy my inmost being?

For such a small sounding word, it is huge in its implications and consequences.  If all my inmost being is occupied and taken up with praising my Lord’s most holy name, surely that would bring with it an incredible peace and a sustaining joy – a peace and joy not easily shaken, distracted or disturbed.

How can I get all my inmost being to praise his holy name?  God has given me his all; his love, his devotion, his blessings, his plans and purposes, his guidance, inspiration and thoughts, and all that he holds dear in the form of his son, which cost him greatly.

I don’t know what King David’s motivation was when he wrote this Psalm.  Maybe he was being distracted and/or shaken and was seeking to remind himself to praise the Lord with all that he was.  And maybe I keep writing to avoid the point.

‘All’ is the point; ‘… all my inmost being.’

But how do I achieve this?  If all my inmost being is praising his holy name, surely this is springing out of, and as a result of, all my inmost being loving my God and being thankful to him for all his goodness.  This, in turn, will lead to my worshipping him with a totality of being.  And, as a bi-product, this affects the enemy; this is warfare against all that would distract, disturb and discourage, enabling me to continue thanking and praising.

To praise and worship my God with all of me requires my effort and a deliberate decision.  It requires my focus to be on him and not on my situation.  It requires my conscious engagement in remembering who he is and what he does.

Praising and worshipping God gives him what he is due and worthy of, and, out of his incredible love and grace, gives us so many great consequences.  It proclaims truth, it protects me, it brings me peace and joy, it increases my love for God, it defeats the niggles of the enemy (he hates us worshipping God and will do anything to stop us), it reminds me of past blessings and of God’s character.  It reaffirms, it lifts up, it gives strength.  And it is wonderfully cyclical; the more I thank him, praise him and focus on him, the more he occupies my inmost being with his abundant love, causing me to thank and praise him all over again.

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

Soul and inmost being – to praise and worship God is my instruction to you.

Psalm 103:2

‘Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits …’

I am talking to my soul; not my mind, my understanding, my memory and all that is within my head, but my soul.

‘… forget not.’  This is to be my very soul, my being, my very core and essence.

‘… forget not’ is to be my identity just as praising him is, so that even if my head could possibly separate itself and forget, or my emotions suddenly take a bashing, my very being will ‘forget not,’ enabling me to stand firm, to persevere, to trust; to stand on his word and to ultimately praise my God; to thank God because his word is true and his benefits are for me, for everyone.

I live in the blessings of his benefits daily.  I have been forgiven; all my sins have been forgiven.  I have known and still receive God’s healing.  My life has been fully redeemed and I no longer live in the pit of death but walk in the light of life.  I know I have God’s love and compassion, so therefore I guess I have the crown too, or at the very least I know that I can hold my head high.  And he most definitely satisfies my desires with good things; I have been greatly blessed and beyond my imagination for myself.  And when I remember all these things I have a joy and a vitality that is carefree and youthful.

I am truly bowled over by the expansion of God’s word that meditating on it brings, by what Jesus reveals to me about himself and by my emotional responses; emotional responses that I did not know I had within me.

I am so glad that I decided to do this.  All Jesus wants is some of my time, attention and presence, and look what I get in return!

Lord, may ‘forget not’ be part of me, as you would have it be.  Thank you.  And I also ask that you would help me to give the time that you have given to me back to you, and to those who you have brought me into contact with.  Amen. 

Psalm 103:1-5

I instruct my soul – all of my inmost being – to praise the Lord.  I choose this course of action.  And I charge my soul with remembering all the benefits of the Lord.

‘… who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,’

He is the one who removes – through forgiveness and healing – all that would seek to distract, destroy, hinder and be a barrier to his love, compassion, grace and blessings.  He forgives and heals; we are cleansed and made whole again.  What joy!

And he does not just forgive us, although that would be more than enough, as in itself it is a huge ‘wow’ factor; he also restores us, he heals us; it is as if we have not sinned or have ever been cast down through illness.  We are given complete restoration.  We are no longer damaged.

‘… who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,’

Not only are we forgiven and then made whole again, but God goes further; he redeems us.  He buys back our lives from where we should rightfully be; from the pit, from death.  This redemption by God is irreversible; he has taken away from me what should be happening during, and at the end of, my life. He has lifted me up out of the mud and the mire – all that would seek to damage and entrap – and has brought me into a place of light and life.  Moreover, he has crowned me ‘with love and compassion.’

Not only am I out of the pit, but I also have new head gear which declares the Lord’s love and compassion for me.  There are not words!

Then, if this isn’t already way more than enough …

‘… who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’

He forgives, he heals and restores, he redeems and gives a crown of love and compassion, and he satisfies the desires of my heart, and only with good things; things that will not damage, distract, destroy, hinder or be a barrier to his love, compassion, grace and blessings.  And – yes, there’s more – to top it all he satisfies my desires with good things so that my youth will be renewed when I need it to be.  For he knows how vital youth is; he does not want me to feel old and tired, but to have strength and energy like the young.  For when we are young we have no idea how precious youth is.  It is when we are older that we truly value this great gift which God, in his grace, renews by satisfying the desires of my heart.

What God is this?  He gives to me so freely.  I am so taken aback.  How can I ever doubt this God, his goodness, his love and compassion; his generosity, thoughtfulness and planning?

Psalm 139:17 says …

‘How precious to me [and about me] are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!’

All of my imaginings for my life, the lives of my friends and family, for my house and my mum’s old house, are nothing in comparison to the thoughts and imaginings that God has concerning all these things.  I just don’t tap into them, that’s all.  Help me Lord to do this!

In Ephesians 1:7-8, I am told …

‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.’

In these two verses we have the gospel and so much more.  Paul (the writer) was a genius at succinctly summing up the gospel, only outdone by John – Jesus’ mate – who summed it up in one verse (although it is a quote from Jesus himself).

John 3:16

‘For God so loved the world [or, loved the world so much] that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

However, I digress; back to Ephesians 1.  The word ‘lavished’ always amazes me; it is a wonderful word, describing so much.  Because of the richness and the bounty of God’s grace, I have forgiveness and redemption.  Moreover, he has ‘lavished’ this bountiful grace upon me, and he has done it in wisdom and understanding.  This I do not fully comprehend, but I know that it is good!

I am loved by a very generous God.  This is a God with a full heart for me and for his people, his children and his family.

Lord God, that I would not doubt or forget your love, your compassion, your generosity.  But that I would remember your blessings and your benefits, and would praise you with all my inmost being.

‘Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.’  Amen.

Psalm 103:1

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

The Lord’s name is holy; it is holy and not something to be slandered or treated lightly.  His name is to be revered and spoken of well.  It is to be praised.

‘… all my inmost being, praise his holy name.’

The whole of my inmost being is to praise this holy name of God’s.  ‘All my inmost being.’  There is to be nothing left for anything else; I am to praise him with all of my desires, my thoughts, my secrets, my longings, my hopes, my plans, my conscious and my sub-conscious.

He is God and all my inmost being (created by him in the first place) belongs to him, is to be devoted to him and is to praise him.

‘… all my inmost being, praise his holy name.’

What love affair is this that stirs my emotions so?  I never thought or imagined that these feelings within me for God were possible.  I never imagined that I could feel this way about God, about Jesus.  I feel like Elizabeth Bennett in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ where she says she cannot remember when she first realised she loved Mr Darcy as it had come on so gradually.

I do not remember having a ‘first love’ experience when I became a Christian, when I chose to follow God and practice what he preaches.  In my arrogance, I thought I was doing God a favour!  (How misguided was I?!)  I am not someone who loves easily.  But now I feel almost lovesick and feel such an intimacy with him that I find I am speechless – not a frequent occurrence for me – and my emotions are all over the place.

It is strange and joyful at the same time – almost romantic!  I really do feel wooed by Jesus.  And (I appreciate this sounds weird) that he wants me for himself.

Anyway, my prayer is that all my inmost being would praise his most holy name.  Amen. 

Psalm 103:1

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

This is not with my mouth, with my voice; this is with and from the depths of my being; my gut – the very core of me.

It is not even with my emotions; it is past or beyond that.  It is from where my deep longings are.  If I am praising God with and from my soul, then I am bypassing my mind, my emotions and possibly even my will.  I need to choose to do this in the first place, to command my soul, my inmost being, until it is the very centre of me to praise and worship God with all that I am.  This takes time.

Praising him is not just to be part of me but all of me; me, my identity.  Praising him is to be in my very DNA – not able to be separated from me.  It is to be my DNA.

More than that, if it is me then it will not be invisible to the naked eye, like DNA is, but praising him will be expressed.  It will find a way out in my actions, my words, my attitudes, my personality.  It will be visible.  It will be the mark of my character.

When I am stressed, really stressed, I have a tendency to bottle it up.  Sometimes, much of the time even, I will not realise just how stressed I am until there is a physical manifestation – sore back, headaches, sleeplessness etc.  My stress, concerns and worries find expression.

‘Praise the Lord, O my soul,’ and may that praise, praise of God from my very core, find expression and be the mark of my life.  This is my prayer.