Ps 103 1 Praise the LORD , O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD , O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
This is the Psalm that teaches us that we are accepted by our Father in heaven. The Psalms are written in a way that our understanding of salvation is confirmed in speaking them. They are not written like other teaching passages. If we want to know God we must speak to Him correctly. We must know Him by speaking His covenants, curses, precept's, laws etc We see there are words on the page that we must put into the context of the whole bible. But we cannot understand the application of these words by a mere word study or gaining a better understanding of the systematic doctrines.
We learn truth by our experience of how words are used in our present culture. But in the scriptures we are learning the culture by being present before a holy God. This Psalm is describing the disposition of God as our Father. This is really the way the Bible is written. It is God Himself speaking to us as if He was walking with us. It is not just a God who is so holy that we cannot look upon Him. But He is a God who is knocking at the door so that He can come and fellowship with us. Well this Psalm is God speaking to us in the most personal way. We are so easily convinced that if a guy tells us what God is like then we just accept that. We have a hard time learning what God is like by fellow shipping with Him in His word.
This is why we get into extremes. If we are not familiar with Gods Fatherly care then we teach that He is unapproachable by our lack of familiarity by knowing Him. We are like an open book and we are read by people in our general disposition and the way we talk about people and where we get our answers. We may be able to describe the intellectual understanding but our hearts are always exposed by the personal application of scripture. So God is speaking to us in this Psalm like He is drawing us into His fellowship by the very words that answer all our needs.
Who forgives all you sins and heals all your diseases? The point of this question is that our Father is asking us this personal question. The question itself draws us to a single answer. Its like a parent wanting a hug and speaking acceptance to us with open arms. Its a question of total acceptance and a promise that is always kept.
Our Father is describing His faithfulness in the covenant that He swore to uphold. He says he forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases , he crowns us with the foundation of His law so that the most rest that we can have is to enjoy the limits of our responsibility and at the same time rest from our works- in crowning us with love and compassion, does not treat us as we deserve because we are sinners, He has removed the problem of being motivated by guilt in forgetting our sins. He has dealt with us according to our needs and not according to our responsibilities because He knows that we are too weak to perform in our own strength. And then the Father reasserts His covenant with us. Of all the words He speaks it is a reaffirmation of His covenant love for us. He curses the wicked and at the same time He loves us with and everlasting love.
When He speaks His covenant to us He focuses on His faithfulness , kindness and love as that by which we are confident that we will be sustained when we are weak and sinful. You mediate on this Psalm and in pronouncing Gods whispers as our Father we are bold as lions in overcoming all opposition in this world.
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD , O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
This is the Psalm that teaches us that we are accepted by our Father in heaven. The Psalms are written in a way that our understanding of salvation is confirmed in speaking them. They are not written like other teaching passages. If we want to know God we must speak to Him correctly. We must know Him by speaking His covenants, curses, precept's, laws etc We see there are words on the page that we must put into the context of the whole bible. But we cannot understand the application of these words by a mere word study or gaining a better understanding of the systematic doctrines.
We learn truth by our experience of how words are used in our present culture. But in the scriptures we are learning the culture by being present before a holy God. This Psalm is describing the disposition of God as our Father. This is really the way the Bible is written. It is God Himself speaking to us as if He was walking with us. It is not just a God who is so holy that we cannot look upon Him. But He is a God who is knocking at the door so that He can come and fellowship with us. Well this Psalm is God speaking to us in the most personal way. We are so easily convinced that if a guy tells us what God is like then we just accept that. We have a hard time learning what God is like by fellow shipping with Him in His word.
This is why we get into extremes. If we are not familiar with Gods Fatherly care then we teach that He is unapproachable by our lack of familiarity by knowing Him. We are like an open book and we are read by people in our general disposition and the way we talk about people and where we get our answers. We may be able to describe the intellectual understanding but our hearts are always exposed by the personal application of scripture. So God is speaking to us in this Psalm like He is drawing us into His fellowship by the very words that answer all our needs.
Who forgives all you sins and heals all your diseases? The point of this question is that our Father is asking us this personal question. The question itself draws us to a single answer. Its like a parent wanting a hug and speaking acceptance to us with open arms. Its a question of total acceptance and a promise that is always kept.
Our Father is describing His faithfulness in the covenant that He swore to uphold. He says he forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases , he crowns us with the foundation of His law so that the most rest that we can have is to enjoy the limits of our responsibility and at the same time rest from our works- in crowning us with love and compassion, does not treat us as we deserve because we are sinners, He has removed the problem of being motivated by guilt in forgetting our sins. He has dealt with us according to our needs and not according to our responsibilities because He knows that we are too weak to perform in our own strength. And then the Father reasserts His covenant with us. Of all the words He speaks it is a reaffirmation of His covenant love for us. He curses the wicked and at the same time He loves us with and everlasting love.
When He speaks His covenant to us He focuses on His faithfulness , kindness and love as that by which we are confident that we will be sustained when we are weak and sinful. You mediate on this Psalm and in pronouncing Gods whispers as our Father we are bold as lions in overcoming all opposition in this world.
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