Ep. 112. Psalm 103-104 | Bless the Lord
EPISODE 112
BLESS THE LORD: PSALM 103, 104
It would be difficult to pick my favorite verses from the Bible, but I imagine some from today have to be in the mix. "Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
What incredible benefits we have in Christ! What beautiful reasons we have for blessing God from our souls. By faith, he forgives all our sins so that they are not counted against us. He heals from disease. He redeems us from death. He crowns us with steadfast love and mercy. He satisfies us with his goodness. How could we not bless God for his gracious kindness towards us?
We are reminded here of the name by which God reintroduced himself to Moses, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." And we celebrate that "he does not deal with us according to our sins."
If you ever need to be reminded of how God views you in light of his saving work done through Jesus, read Psalm 103.
Now, Psalm 104 is beautiful for a different reason: we are reminded to bless the Lord as creator. Of course, we recall the very first episode of Simpler Bible, and we know the Bible established God as the creator so that we would see him as the source of all truth. Many of the ideas in this particular chapter can be found in God's rebuke of Job in chapters 38-41.
I do love the imagery here of the breath of God and the dust of men. We first see God breathe his breath into the dust to create Adam. We see it again in Ezekiel 37 when God breathes into the lifeless army of his people. In Job, we are told that if God were to withdraw his breath from mankind, we would all return to dust. These four texts and how they are tied together have always been intriguing to me. All mankind lives and moves and has their being because God upholds us all by the word of his power.
ADDITIONAL READING: Isaiah 40:29-31; Exodus 34:6-7; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 1 Corinthians 15:49; Isaiah 40:6-8; Hebrews 1:14; Job 38:39-41; Ezekiel 37:9-10; Psalm 19:14; Job 34:14-15; Genesis 2:7; Acts 17:28; Hebrews 1:3
