God Crowns You with Loving Kindness!

 

 Psalm 103 represents the two bookends of my life. I received my very first Bible in 1975 at the age of 16. It was a gift from my mother for Christmas. She had a special leather cover made for it, personalized with Psalm 103 because I loved that chapter so much that I had memorized it after I first got "saved". I say saved in quotes because, unfortunately, I drifted far away from the Lord in my late teens and twenties, so much so that I can't really say I was saved anymore. I still have this old Bible as you can see from the picture. In fact, this was the very Bible I picked up some twenty-five years later, determined to read it from cover to cover to find out if God actually existed. Why I kept it all those years, I have no idea. I never read it during that time, and when I finally found it again, it was covered in dust. 

 

Psalm 103 meant a lot to me as a teenager, but I must not have believed the Words back then. If I had, I doubt I would have ever drifted from the Lord. Anyway, I decided to memorize it again. Funny how something you memorized almost 50 years ago can come back to mind so quickly. Yet this time, the Words had power in them. This time, the Words bore more meaning, more truth, more wisdom than I ever knew back then.  It occurred to me to share those words with you because basically this psalm offers promises from God that cover any and all problems you may be encountering at the moment. 

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:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 

It starts out with Praise to the Lord as should every prayer we utter, but then it lists the blessings God pours on us.

 

• God forgives ALL your sins. Not some, not a few, not most, but all! 
• God heals ALL your diseases. Again, all of them. Some people may not believe that. Some people think that God doesn't heal today, but that's not what He says here. 
• God rescues you from destruction. He keeps you safe, not only in this world, but from hell in the next. Another translation says He redeems my life from the pit.  Notice the present tense of redeems, indicating it is a current and ongoing action. 
• God feeds you. He not only feeds you, He feeds you well
• God renews your strength 

 

Sounds pretty good so far!

 

The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

 

God is slow to anger with us. He is merciful

He does not punish us like we deserve for our sins 

 

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.
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust. 

 

Wow, so He not only doesn't punish us for our sins but He removes them. He forgets them.  

 

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

 

I love this part of the Psalm. This is one of the most incredible promise of God. He promises to be merciful and to extend righteousness to your children AND your grandchildren. Does that mean God is saving our kids and grandkids? I believe the answer is yes. Of course they have they own free will, but because they are descendants of the righteous, God will chase them down until they turn to Him.  But there are conditions to this promise. (And to all the prior ones) 

• You must reverentially fear God 
• You must keep His covenant
• You must remember His commandments to do them.

You see, back when I was 16, I didn't do those three things. I must have skipped over those verses. Because my life wasn't perfect, I figured all these promises of God were just words and they weren't real.  Just a few years later, I was off doing my own thing, partying and living a life of sin. I not only forgot the promises of God, I forgot there were any conditions. I lived my life the way I wanted and in all honesty, I made a huge mess of things. I am still paying the consequences of many bad choices.

 

However, ever since I gave my life to Jesus and started following Him with ALL my heart and doing my best to be obedient to Him, I can honestly say that all the promises in this Psalm are real and true. He has forgiven me of all my sins. He has healed all my diseases. He has and continues to redeem me from destruction. He protects me. He provides for all my needs. He gives me strength to face each day! And yes, HE is going to save my kids and grandkids. I believe that with all my heart. 

 

So, no matter what is going on in your life, no matter what troubles come your way, you can hold God to His promises in His Word. Just remember. There are conditions. You must follow Him and obey Him. You can't expect God to help you if you're dabbling in sin or if you have idols in your life ahead of Him. It doesn't work that way. Sometimes, out of His mercy, He may help you. But like a good Father, He's not going to keep giving you things if you keep disobeying Him. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. Took me over 20 years. (I'm a slow learner) 

 

Now for the rest of this beautiful Psalm.  Notice the first two lines. God is on the throne. His Kingdom rules over all!  It doesn't say His Kingdom rules over part of the earth or only over the Christians. He rules over ALL. So no matter the evil we see rising in the world, God is still the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  

 

The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!