Bless the Lord | Psalm 103

David begins Psalm 103 by calling his own soul to bless the Lord, because praise does not grow out of white-knuckled duty. God created his people to worship, and “hallelujah” means praise Yahweh, praise the Lord. The Psalm first remembers the benefits God gives through Jesus: forgiveness, healing, redemption from the pit, steadfast love, mercy, and a life satisfied with good.

David then turns to God’s character. The Lord revealed his ways to Moses and his acts to Israel, even though Israel quickly forgot him, rebelled, and worshiped a golden calf. God’s response in Exodus 34 tells the whole story: he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. God is righteous and just, seeing the oppressed, the forgotten, the abused, the poor, and the powerless. God does not call his children to praise him because he is harsh, disappointed, or merely putting up with them. God reveals his goodness so that love and affection for him might overflow into singing and living for him.

God’s heart is seen in the fact that he does not deal with his children according to their sins. The cross does not mean God ignores sin; Christ bears the judgment sinners deserve, so that those in him become the righteousness of God. David gives three pictures of that grace. God’s steadfast love is as high as the heavens above the earth. God’s forgiveness sends transgressions as far as east is from west, not dangling old sins in front of his children forever. God’s compassion is like a father’s compassion for his children, because he knows their frame and remembers they are dust. Weakness does not put God off. God sees, feels, stretches out his hands, and acts with deep compassion.

David also tells the truth about life: human days are like grass and flowers in a field. Careers, homes, achievements, bodies, and reputations cannot be made permanent. The soul may feel like a cat on a tin roof, scratching and clawing for something to hold onto, but Jesus holds onto his people. Human life fades, but the steadfast love of the Lord runs from everlasting to everlasting, reaching even to children’s children.

David ends where he began, blessing the Lord, but the choir grows. Angels, heavenly hosts, and all God’s works in every place of his dominion are summoned to praise. One voice is not enough for a God this merciful, compassionate, faithful, and good.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Praise grows from knowing God’s character. God’s mercy, grace, patience, and steadfast love give praise a real foundation. Duty alone can make worship feel clenched and joyless, but God’s self-revelation draws out affection. The soul blesses the Lord because God is better than the fearful picture sinners often carry of him. [39:31]
• 2. The cross answers sin without condemnation. God does not pretend sin is small, nor does he repay his children according to all their iniquities. Christ receives the judgment sinners deserve and gives his righteousness to those who belong to him. Forgiveness means old sins are not a carrot God dangles before his children for the rest of their lives. [42:37]
• 3. God’s compassion meets human frailty. God knows the frame of his children and remembers that they are dust. Weakness, fear, limitation, and discouragement do not make God withdraw in disgust. God looks upon his children with a deep, active compassion that sees their pain and moves toward them. [47:20]
• 4. Temporary things cannot hold the soul. Human life flourishes and fades like grass, and even the things that feel secure cannot last forever. The soul can spend its days scratching and clawing like a cat on a tin roof, trying to hold onto fading things. Jesus holds onto his people when every other support proves fragile. [57:10]
• 5. Creation needs a bigger choir. David calls angels, heavenly hosts, and all God’s works to bless the Lord because one voice is not enough. God’s kingdom rules over all, and his steadfast love deserves praise from every corner of his dominion. Praise joins the soul to the worship already fitting for the King of heaven.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:14] - A Hallelujah from Charlotte
• [29:59] - Created to Be a People of Praise
• [31:24] - Remember the Lord’s Benefits
• [32:23] - Remember God’s Character
• [34:22] - God Sees the Oppressed
• [36:44] - Merciful, Gracious, and Slow to Anger
• [39:31] - Worship That Overflows from Love
• [41:16] - God Does Not Deal with Sin as Deserved
• [44:03] - Love to the Heavens and Forgiveness Without End
• [47:10] - A Father’s Compassion for Dust
• [50:53] - Grass, Flowers, and Everlasting Love
• [56:19] - A Cat on a Tin Roof
• [59:39] - Join All Creation in Praise

1. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” [27:04]
2. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,”
3. “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,” [31:43]
4. “who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,”
5. “who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
6. “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” [32:25]
7. “He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.”
8. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” [25:37]
9. “He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.”
10. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” [41:20]
11. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;”
12. “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” [26:00]
13. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” [26:07]
14. “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” [26:14]
15. “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;” [26:18]
16. “for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.”
17. “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,” [26:29]
18. “to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.”
19. “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” [26:42]
20. “Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!” [26:49]
21. “Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!” [26:56]
22. “Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!”

1. “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
2. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
3. keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” [36:51]

1. In Psalm 103, what benefits does David tell his soul not to forget, and what do those benefits show about God’s care for his people? [31:36]
2. What words describe God’s character in Psalm 103:6–9 and Exodus 34:5–7? How are righteousness and justice held together with mercy, grace, patience, steadfast love, and faithfulness? [37:24]
3. What three pictures does Psalm 103:11–14 use to describe God’s love, forgiveness, and compassion?
4. How does the focus of praise expand at the end of Psalm 103—from one soul, to angels and heavenly hosts, to all God’s works everywhere? [01:00:14]

1. Psalm 103 says that God “does not deal with us according to our sins,” while Exodus 34 says that God will not simply clear the guilty. How does the cross of Christ explain both God’s justice and his mercy? [43:18]
2. What does it mean that believers become “the righteousness of God” in Christ? How does that truth differ from trying to earn God’s acceptance through good behavior? [43:40]
3. Psalm 103 describes God as a Father who knows that his children are dust. How should this shape the way a believer understands God’s response to fear, weakness, failure, and discouragement? [47:27]
4. Psalm 103 says that human life is like grass but God’s steadfast love is everlasting. What is the difference between enjoying temporary gifts and trying to make those gifts carry the weight that only God’s love can carry? [52:02]

1. What benefit of God are you most likely to forget right now—forgiveness, mercy, redemption, God’s care, or his provision? What could help you bring that benefit back to mind this week?
2. When you picture God looking at you after you sin or fail, do you tend to picture him as harsh, disappointed, or merely putting up with you? How do Psalm 103 and Romans 8:1 challenge that picture? [39:51]
3. Is there a past sin, relationship, season, or “worst moment” that you keep replaying and holding against yourself? What would it look like to receive God’s promise that, in Christ, there is no condemnation and that he removes transgressions far away? [46:13]
4. Where are you especially aware of your weakness right now—your body, emotions, finances, family, work, faith, or fears? How does knowing that God remembers you are dust give you a more honest way to come to him? [47:41]
5. What temporary thing are you most tempted to hold onto for security: a career, a home, possessions, reputation, health, youth, or control? How might that effort leave you “scratching and clawing” for something that cannot last? [57:10]
6. What would it look like this week to trust that Jesus is holding onto you, rather than trying to hold your whole life together by your own strength? [57:31]
7. Praise is meant to grow from affection for God’s character, not from white-knuckled duty. What is one specific way you can respond to God’s mercy, forgiveness, compassion, or everlasting love with praise this week? [40:34]