“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…For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Like a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord gives compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field he flourishes. For the hot wind passes over it, and it is gone; the place where it was is not known. But the mercy 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 to those who remember to do His commandments…” (rf. Ps. 103:1-2, 11-18 MEV)
In the Psalm above, King David encourages the reader to join him as he praises the Lord in song (for remember, the psalms were originally songs written as works for worship). David’s heart rejoices at the thought of all that the Lord has done for him. He reminds himself not to “forget…all His benefits”, the many things through which God has blessed him personally. He outlines a great number of incidents in his own life where he has seen the hand of the Lord evident. In the passage given above, David recounts specifically how the Lord has forgiven his sin, how He has chosen purposefully not to remember them at all, casting them “as far as the east is from the west”. David sees himself as the beneficiary of God’s wonderful and amazing grace, enabling him to serve and fear the Lord and to fulfill His commandments. He also expresses how this is the same experience of all who follow the Lord; they know His “compassion” firsthand and rejoice in it.
As we approach the season of giving thanks to the Lord, David’s reminder is most fitting. We should take his encouragement to heart, looking back at all of the blessings that the Lord has given to His people, not because they deserve or merit them, only that God desires to express His grace, love, mercy and “compassion” to us. Being the recipients of these blessings should elicit our praise of Him and a constant desire to worship Him and to be in His Presence.
So, may it be an act of commitment on our part to diligently and thoughtfully take time to recall all of the ways God has shown His love to us. May we also give Him glory each day and look forward to being together as His people to share our joy with Him and with each other in worship.
