Psalm 103—Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Psalm 103 is one of the six Psalms read every at every Orthros service. The images it paints are powerful and comforting. The entire Psalm is a thanksgiving for the greatness of God and a call to our own souls to bless God with all that is in us. I love that the Psalms capture all of the emotions, and the emotions of this Psalm are elation, joy, euphoria. What a beautiful thought that God can forgive ALL of our iniquities and heal our diseases (v. 3), redeem our lives from the Pit and crown us with steadfast love and mercy (v.4)

“The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.” (v. 6) This means that we don’t have to be so concerned about justice and fairness in this life. God will take care of those who have been oppressed, just as He will render judgment on the oppressors who have oppressed them.

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (v. 8) This is the ideal way we should all treat each other. Many of us are quick to anger, and lose our patience quickly. This is not how God operates. He is merciful and gracious, He is slow to anger, and has an abundance of patience.

Thankfully “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities.” (v. 10) Because if He did, no one would be able to stand before Him. None of us with have a chance at salvation. His mercy is able to cover over our multitude upon multitude of sins.

Verses 11-12 paint the visual images of the heavens, the skies above us, which stretch farther than the eye can see. We see only a fraction of what is above the earth with our own eyes. And that expanse is massive. We can’t imagine all that is above us. And this is how great God’s love is to those who fear Him. This is how great His capacity is to forgive us.

God’s love is not like our sense of love, because everything about us is temporary. Man is compared to grass and flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow. God’s love is “from everlasting to everlasting.” (v. 17) It is without end. The Lord is slow to anger and quick to forgive. His capacity to forgive is without end. Many of us are just the opposite—we are quick to anger and slow to forgive and our capacity to forgive quickly runs out. We even consider certain sins “unforgivable.” This is why relationships break down, friendships end, and people get fired. Because our ability to forgive does have boundaries. God’s ability to forgive does not. God’s love, patience and ability to forgive are the ideal that we are to strive for. And just because we will never attain it does not mean we should not be striving for it.

“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His Kingdom rules over all.” (v. 19) When we look up to people who are powerful, we realize that they are just people. By that I mean, people are small. Even when the President or a famous person moves through a crowd, they are our size, they move around, they look small from a distance and they disappear from view. Look at the sky—it is over all. It is larger than anything we can see or create. The sky dominates the landscape outside. And unless we remove ourselves from view of it, the sky is always there. Its majesty is available to us at almost any moment. This is how we should think of God. As majestic, magnificent and mighty. As ruling over all. As easily accessible. As reigning over our lives in a good way. As always there.

Verses 20-22 direct all things to bless the Lord—His angels, His hosts, and His works. We might ask, “how is that us—I am not an angel, a host or a work of God?” The Psalm answers that those who do God’s word and hearken to the sound of His voice are His angels. And the ones that do His will are His hosts.

The Psalm ends the same way it began. “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (v. 22) is a reminder that our relationship with the Lord, blessing Him, thanking Him, and doing His word begins within our own souls. When we fail, we shouldn’t worry, because His mercy is “from everlasting to everlasting.” The goal, however is what we read at the beginning of the Psalm, “Blessed the Lord, O My soul; and all that is within me bless His Holy Name!” (v. 1)

This Psalm is one of the most inspiring, motivating and encouraging of all the Psalms. It inspires us to offer ourselves to God with our entire being. It motivates us to do His word, hear His voice and do His will. And it encourages us that God’s love and mercy are without measure.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, Who forgives all your iniquity, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the Pit, Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies your with good as long as you live, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. 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. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high 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. As a father pities His children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 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. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. 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, hearkening to the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His ministers that do his will! Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my Soul! Psalm 103

Bless the Lord today by hearing His word, doing His work, and praising Him from the depths of your soul. Go all in with God today!