| Christian Life and Doctrine | February 1974 |
“Bless the Lord, O My Soul”
“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 forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. … The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. … He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust: … bless the Lord, O my soul.”—Psalm 103
In a few other texts the word here translated “bless”—“Bless the Lord, O my soul”—is translated “praise,” and when God is the object, the word “praise” in today’s language is possibly a better choice. So, “Praise the Lord, O my soul,” and from my very heart, praise his holy name. Psalm 103 is a psalm of praise to God—praise in thankful acknowledgment of blessings received from his bountiful hand. We have received so much from him. We have so much cause to “praise his holy name.” We praise him for all his benefits, all his favors—for his forgiveness of all our iniquities. This is mentioned first, because without the merit of Christ being applied we would still be in trespass and sin, but through his blood the disease of death is healed.
“Praise the Lord, O my soul.” We praise him for his plan of redemption. We praise him for his loving-kindness and tender mercy. He is “the God of all mercy.” He is the “Father of mercies.” He is “plenteous in mercy.” He is slow to anger even though we may give him a cause. We praise him for our daily strength; for his grace to help in time of need. We are told that “as an eagle” our strength is renewed.
As far as the east is from the west, so has he removed our transgressions from us, so that Adam’s transgression under which we were born can no longer affect our relationship with him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Like as a father has compassion, so the Heavenly Father has compassion for us. He knows our frame. He knows that in its fallen condition it will not take much stress and strain. He knows we are made of dust. But if we serve him in sincerity and truth he will have compassion toward us, because he loves us. Many times we express our love for God, and that is good. We should love him. But let us also ever be conscious of God’s love for us.
If there is one thing above others aiding us in our battle to gain everlasting life, it is the love, comfort, and encouragement that we receive from our Heavenly Father. The Apostle Peter described the followers of Jesus as those “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
A Christian’s experiences are varied. They have to be, in order to promote our spiritual development. There are times when we are “on the mountaintop,” when all things flow smoothly and lightly. Everything sails along as a song! Our brethren appreciate that we are endeavoring to direct our consecrated life along Christian lines. And then again, there are times when our path leads down to the valley; sometimes deep into the vale of tears; sometimes into the slough of despondency at the very bottom of the valley—“the valley of the shadow of death.” We always need the love of God, no matter where we are—on the mountaintop, or in the vale of bitter experience, prosperity, or adversity. At all points our faith is being tested to see if we are able to say, “Praise the Lord, O my soul.” It may be that just as many have been drawn away from the love of God through material success as have through material failure. Our frame is dust. It does not stand strain, and so we need the love of God and his keeping power to supply us strength and help for every time of need. “The Lord loves those that fear him.” We have a better word. “The Lord loves those that ‘reverence’ him.” But in the original Hebrew we find that it also means “worship,” and that is good too. “The Lord loves those who ‘worship’ him.” Whenever you have a text with the word ‘fear’ in it, try using the word ‘worship.’ You will enjoy it. That is, if the word is from the proper root.
Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the earth [worship] fear the Lord.” Psalm 67:7: “God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall [worship] fear him.” Psalm 102:15 reads, “So the heathen shall [worship] fear the name of the Lord,” etc.
The true worshiper of God in this day of salvation is the one who has consecrated his life to God. We need the love of God because we are now—right now—on trial for eternal life. We are all aware of our first trial—we were all condemned in Adam, for “in Adam all die.” But our Lord Jesus filed a motion for a new trial! By his own death on Calvary he gained the right to offer to every one of Adam’s children a new trial for life—“So in Christ shall all be made alive.” We are of those who fear God, who reverence him, who worship him, who have consecrated ourselves to him; and so we are now on trial for eternal life. It is a full and fair trial. But we must “keep ourselves in the love of God.” That is, we must keep within those boundaries where the love of God can reach us and help us to continue in the protection of his love. This is what Jude is saying in verses 20, 21: “But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Ephesians 3:14-19 reads, from “Living Letters,” “When I think of the wisdom and scope of his plan I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God. Some of them up in heaven and some down here on earth, that out of his glorious unlimited resources he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit, and I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love, and may you be able to feel and understand, with all God’s children how long—how wide—how deep and how high his love really is, and to experience this love for yourselves though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so completely filled with God himself.”
Here again we are told that our appreciation of our Father’s love for us is dependent upon our faith and consecration: “That he might dwell in our hearts;” that we may be rooted and grounded in God’s love for us; that we may be able to grasp and understand how great that love really is—how long it is—the length of his love—that it reaches throughout the ages. How wide it is, the breadth of his love—it is worldwide. It includes all his creatures. How deep it is. The depth of his love. It reaches down to you and me and it will reach below ground, and sea, in the resurrection of the dead. How high it is—the height of his love; it reaches not only to the heavenly hosts but it reaches above and beyond and through the shell of human selfishness and self-seeking. May we truly have an appreciation of the length and breadth and depth and height of God’s love for us!
He is our Heavenly Father, and as a father he is more interested in our welfare than we ourselves know how to be. Every human father knows this—even though it is hard for his young son to understand that truth. Our Heavenly Father knows the prize of the high calling and what it means—of glory, honor, and immortality—better than we. He knows, he appreciates the loss it will be to those who fail and he knows that far better than we do. And so, “Like as a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who truly worship him.”
Sometimes we may feel that even the Lord has forgotten us. Our Lord’s reply to that is given in Isaiah 49:15,16. He says to us, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” This promise should help us to appreciate our Heavenly Father’s great, yet tender love—the protecting love of a father, the tender love of a mother.
A nursing child holds a special place in the average household. In the Father’s household we also hold a special place. A mother does not often forget her baby. The child is the center of her life. Other things may be neglected because of the baby, but the baby is not neglected for daily chores. The mother delights to feed, to comfort the child. But even though she might forget, God says, “yet will I not forget thee.” A mother’s ear is always attuned to her offspring. You have seen a mother leave a room for her child, while you have heard nothing—but she did! And so, even though others do not recognize our needs our Father does—“His ear is open to our cry.” He knows, he loves, he cares.
As we think of God’s love for us we are reminded of a simple truth stated by our Lord Jesus Christ, “The Father knoweth what things ye have need of.” He knows what we need before we call, and as Apostle Paul expresses it, gives “exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”—Eph. 3:20
But that does not mean we should not pray. “Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find.” He knows that we need clothing and he supplies it. And at great cost we wear the beautiful robe of righteousness. He knows we need food and he supplies it. He prepares a table before us; our cup runneth over, not of physical sustenance alone, though for this we are thankful, but of every word that proceeds from him. It is not his fault if we go hungry spiritually. He knows we need shelter and protection, and he supplies it. “He shall cover thee with his feathers; under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge even the most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Do you believe that?
How much does the Father love us? He says, “Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.” This alludes to a custom of marking on the hands the city walls and temple of Jerusalem before one made a journey. It is thought by many that this was really the start of the “wedding ring” custom. But to us it represents that our Father will never forget us. He has set us as a seal upon his heart. He is ever mindful of us and our needs.
How much does he love us? The prophet records these words: “For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, … He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” (Zech. 2:8) This is an assurance of God’s protecting care. And this text always reminds us of Matthew 18:10: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven.” The Lord is not pleased if one member despise another, or think scornfully of his brother, or would put a stumbling block in his path.
The ministry of angels is a great truth. It is serious business to discredit one who is guarded by “his angels,” for they do always behold the face of our Father. What is the report they are making on us for our actions? It is good to have God as our Father, for then we have his angels as our angels, ever ready to minister to his children. Hebrews 1:14 reads, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
David said in the 8th Psalm, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou are mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visiteth him?” We have been visited with divine favor; called with a heavenly calling. He is mindful of us, concerned for us.
Brethren, it is not presumption to say we are favorites of divine providence, for we have that great assurance of Scripture found in John 16:27, “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” Observe what emphasis is laid upon this: the Father himself loves us. We owe Christ’s merit to God’s love in giving his Son. Our Father has four great attributes: Justice, wisdom, love, and power. Think of his almighty power, and then remember that all that power, his keeping power, the power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19,20), is exercised on your behalf! Think of his wisdom. The whole plan of the universe expresses it; and we have that wisdom to direct our lives, our providences, and Romans 8:28 properly reads, “We know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Think of the justice of God; the great plan that makes it possible for “God to be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” We as God’s children enjoy justification before him through Jesus.
Not only is it true that “God is love,” but I John 1:5 describes him as light. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Here is another expression of the absolute nature of God. Not, “God is a light,” but simply and absolutely, “God is light.” And light is truth; and light enkindles love. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.”
As all material life and growth depends on light, so all our spiritual life and growth depends on him, for he is light. He is our light. Thus, God is love. God is light, and we walk in the light of his Word. The Word of the Lord endureth forever. It is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. It has taught us of our Father’s love. And so, may we say with the psalmist, “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.”—Ps. 66:8,9