Psalm 103:1-5
1 Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, 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. [1]
__________
What jumped out at me today in this brief section from Psalm 103 is the exhortation in verse 2 not to forget all the Lord’s benefits. He then goes on to list a few of those blessings: forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, compassion, good things, etc.
That’s quite a list. You would think that we would not need a special invitation to remember these blessings. But we know from our own experience that we do in fact need reminders. God’s blessings surround and permeate our lives so completely, and are given so freely, that they are quite easy to take for granted. Worse yet, they are easy to attribute to our own self-sufficiency and self-reliance. It’s a pretty sad commentary on the extent of the fallen nature when the grace of God leads us to take Him for granted rather than leading us to praise.
So this psalm invites and exhorts us to remember the Lord’s goodness and gifts and so to praise Him with all that we have. And this is my prayer today, one of praise. I’m just spending some time reflecting on the blessings that I am prone to take for granted, and praising my gracious Savior whose love and compassion fills my life with such goodness.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 103:1–5). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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