Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
² Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
³ He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
⁴ He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
⁵ He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

⁶ The Lord gives righteousness
    and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

⁷ He revealed his character to Moses
    and his deeds to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
⁹ He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
¹⁰ He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
¹¹ For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
¹² He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
¹⁸     of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

¹⁹ The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything.

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you angels,
    you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
    listening for each of his commands.
²¹ Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
    who serve him and do his will!
²² Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
    everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Dear God, what a beautiful psalm. It’s the kind that needs to be read out loud. I like how David is exhorting the angels to praise you, as if they don’t all of the time. I wonder what David’s understanding of angels was at the time. Honestly, I don’t have too much of an understanding of angels, but it seems like a lot of the angel visits are either in Genesis with Abraham and Jacob or in the gospels with Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. I know Raphael also shows up in Tobit.

But I digress. It is so great to just stop and worship you. To praise you. To proclaim verbally who you are. I also like the part of this that refers to the vaporous quality of our earthly lives. Like the wildflowers, we are here and then we are gone. But we do make an impact while we are here.

I don’t want to forget that, while this is a psalm of orientation, there are plenty of people I know today who are living in disorientation at this moment. You know who is on my heart and who I’m talking about. And there are several of them. I pray that you would find them in their trouble and sorrow. That you would draw them close to you through these hard times. That you would make this pain count.

Father, you are my God. I am your servant. You have work for me to do today. Help me to do it well and for your glory. Help me to carr you into my day.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen