Psalms 103

The four psalms that close book IV of the book of Psalms (90—106) emphasize praise to the Lord for several reasons: His benefits to His people (103), His care of His creation (104), His wonderful acts on behalf of Israel (105), His longsuffering with His people’s rebellion (106). There are no requests in this psalm; it is only praise to the Lord. In studying this psalm, we must remember that God’s blessings on Israel depended on their obedience to His covenant (vv. 17–18), and believers today must also be obedient to God’s will if they would enjoy God’s best (2 Cor. 6:14—7:1). The psalm also admonishes us not to forget the blessings after we have received them and enjoyed them. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5: nkjv).David started with individual and personal praise (vv. 1–6), then moved to national praise (6–19), and concluded with universal praise (vv. 20–22).

To “bless the Lord” means to delight His heart by expressing love and gratitude for all He is and all He does. Parents are pleased when their children simply thank them and love them, without asking for anything. True praise comes from a grateful heart that sincerely wants to glorify and please the Lord. “All that is within me” means that all of our inner being is focused on the Lord—heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28–31). It also means that we are prepared to obey His will after our praise has ended. The word “all” is found at least nine times in the psalm (1–3, 6, 19, 21–22), for the psalm is a call for total commitment to God. We give thanks to the Lord before we receive our food, and this is right, but the Jewish people were also to give thanks after they had eaten and to remember that the Lord had given them their food (Deut. 8:7–20). My immigrant Swedish relatives used to follow this practice. At least fourteen times in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses admonished the people to remember the Lord and what He did for them, and nine times he cautioned them not to forget. (See Deut. 32:18.) It was when the third generation of Jews came on the scene and forgot the Lord that the nation began to decay (Judg. 2:7—3:7).

David listed six special blessings from the hand of the Lord (vv. 3–5): forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, satisfaction, and renewal. The word translated “forgives” is used in Scripture only of God’s forgiveness of sinners (see vv. 10–12). The word for “iniquity” pictures sin as something twisted and distorted. Those who have trusted Christ have experienced God’s forgiveness (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 2:13). When you read 32 and 51, you learn that David knew something about God’s gracious forgiveness (and see vv. 10–12). God is able to heal every disease (Matt. 9:35), but He is not obligated to do so. Paul was not able to heal two of his friends (Phil. 2:25–30; 2 Tim. 4:20), and David’s own baby son died in spite of his fasting and praying (2 Sam. 12:15–23). The believer’s body will not be completely delivered from weakness and disease until it is redeemed and glorified at the return of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:18–23). In Scripture, sickness is sometimes used as a picture of sin and healing as a picture of salvation (41:4; 147:3; Isa. 53:10; Luke 5:18–32; 1 Peter 2:23–24).

The word redeem (v. 4) would remind the Jewish people of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt at the exodus (Ex. 12–15). The statement describes God rescuing someone about to fall into a pit, and “the pit” is a symbol of sheol (6:5; 16:10; 28:1), the world of the dead. David himself was often very near to death, so perhaps he had premature death in mind. David also knew something about crowns, but no crown he ever wore compared with God’s lovingkindness and compassion (tender mercies). These attributes also appear in verses 8, 11, 13, and 17. Believers should “reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5: nkjv; and see Rev. 1:1:6). We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:1–7), and He helps us to “reign in life.”

There is no satisfaction in this world, but we have satisfaction in Christ who is the Bread of Life (John 6:33–40) and the Good Shepherd who leads us into green pastures (23:2). (See 107:9; 145:16.) The word translated “mouth” is a bit of a puzzle since it is usually translated “ornaments” or “jewelry,” words that hardly fit this context. Some students interpret the word to mean “duration” or “years” (see ). No matter how old we become, God can satisfy the needs of our lives and the spiritual desires of our hearts. The legend about the physical renewal of the eagle is not what David had in mind in verse 5. Like most birds, eagles do molt and have what seems to be a new lease on life. But the picture here is that of the believer being strengthened by the Lord even in old age and able to “soar” like the eagle (Isa. 40:31; see 71:17–18; 92:14; 2 Cor. 4:16–18).

The nation of Israel was certainly blessed of the Lord and therefore obligated to express their praise and thanksgiving to Him. Jehovah was their righteous Deliverer (v. 6), not only when He rescued them from Egypt, but all during their history. He gave David many great victories on the battlefield. The Lord also gave His people guidance (v. 7), leading them by His glory cloud, His Word, and His prophets. The people knew God’s acts, what He was doing, but Moses knew God’s ways, why He was doing it. Moses was intimate with the Lord and understood His will. Jehovah was also the merciful and compassionate Savior who forgave His people when they sinned. In verses 8–12, we have a summary of what Moses learned about God while on Sinai (see Ex. 33:12–13; 34:5–9; and see Num. 14:18). Being a holy God, He did get angry at sin, and the Israelites were prone to rebel against Him, but in His compassion, He forgave them. This was possible because one day His Son would die for those sins on a cross. (See 86:15; Isa. 57:6.) The picture in verses 8–12 is that of a courtroom in which God is both judge and prosecuting attorney. He has all the evidence He needs to condemn us, but He does not prolong the trial. When the judge is your Father, and when Jesus has died for your sins, there is full and free forgiveness available to all who will ask for it. If God gave us the punishment we deserved, we would be without hope (Ezra 9:13). The punishment that we deserve was given to Jesus (Isa. 53:4–6).

David looked up to the heavens and said that God’s love reached that high and higher. David remembered the ceremony on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16), when the goat was released in the wilderness, symbolically bearing Israel’s sins far away (see John 1:29). (For other descriptions of God’s forgiveness of sin, see Isa. 1:18; 38:17; 43:25; Jer. 31:34.) But we must remember that it is not God’s love or pity that saves us, but God’s grace (Eph. 2:8–10), for grace is love that has paid a price. Were it not for the death of Christ on the cross, there could be no forgiveness of our sins. Yes, God is like a tender Father, but His pity is not a shallow sentimental feeling. A holy God demands that His law be satisfied, and only His perfect Son could provide that satisfaction (Rom. 3:19–31). Is the human race worth saving? We are only grass that grows up and then fades away and dies (vv. 15–16; see 37:2, 10, 36; 40:6–8; 90:6–8). But the Lord knows our “formation” (frame) because He formed us from the dust (Gen. 2:7) and even kept watch on us in the womb (139:13–16). He is eternal God and wants to share His eternal home with us. What grace! He promised His people that He would bless them and their descendants if they feared Him and kept His precepts. (See Deut. 6:1–15.) Believers today have already been blessed “with every spiritual blessing … in Christ” (Eph. 1:4), and as we trust Him and obey His will, He meets our every need.

When we worship the Lord God, we worship the King of the universe. The “Lord of Hosts” is sovereign over all things He has created, including the stars and planets (33:6; Isa. 40:26) and the angels (91:11; 2 Kings 6:17–20), who are servants to the saints (Heb. 1:14). As a youth, David confronted the giant Goliath with, “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam. 17: nkjv). The apostle John heard the vast choir of all creation praise the Lord (Rev. 5:13), and one day, we shall join in that anthem. But the final shout of praise in the psalm comes, not from the angels, but from David the psalmist: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” After all, redeemed men and women have more to praise the Lord for than do all the angels in heaven and all the galaxies in the universe.

Nobody in hell blesses the Lord, but every creature in heaven does nothing else but bless the Lord. We who are in this world can enjoy “heaven on earth” as we join them in expressing thanksgiving and blessing to our great God. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”