Psalms

A Psalm of David.

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
David begins with personal praise.  Our soul is blessed by the Lord.  It is in Him and Him alone we find completeness.  We were created to glorify Him.  For us to be at odds with Him or separated by sin causes turmoil in our soul.  David yields his entire life to the Lord, calling for all that is within him to bless the holy name of God.  We should never forget our place is with God.  We can never feel our soul would be better if it were split between the Lord and the world.  It is the difference between our work in the garden of God doing what we were created for and that of being cast out to toil by the sweat of our brow in the thorns.

³ Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
As human beings infected with sin, we are constantly distracted and drawn away to other things. We may find short term happiness in the world.  We might find worldly satisfaction to keep us in sin.  Yet, it is only with God we find forgiveness and healing.  Once sin destroys our life we feel as though we are without hope.  Yet, in Christ we not only find hope, we are redeemable.  For David, this picture of redemption was God saving Israel out of Egypt.  The word is the picture of pulling someone from a pit to save them from sure destruction.  By His grace we are crowned with loving-kindness and mercy.  He satisfies us, giving us what we yearn for deep in our soul and not what we think we need and many times not what we want. 

⁶ The LORD executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
This begins national praise.  We often attempt to execute righteousness on our own.  All we get is self righteousness.  In the Lord, we are broken and contrite and we receive His righteousness.  The Lord will also execute justice for the oppressed.  God is on the side of those who are being taken advantage of, those who can't defend themselves and are being held down by someone in power. 

⁷ He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
God made himself known to Israel and the world through Moses.  He identified Himself with Israel and we now know God in His dealings with them.  We know of God's holiness through the law given to Moses, we see the pattern of sin in people through the hardheartedness of Israel.  Yet, God was longsuffering toward them.  Moses had a relationship with God.

⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
⁹ He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
The Lord has shown His love for us even when we've proven over and over that we are His enemy.  We sin against Him continually, yet He is gracious and merciful.  He doesn't deal with us as we deserve to be dealt with.  However, it will not always be this way.  He will not continue to strive with us in our sin forever.  There is a day coming when the Lord will vent His anger and all sin will be dealt with.  Those who have trusted in the shed blood of Christ will find their sins forgiven.  Those who stand in their sins will receive just punishment.

¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

This begins a section on universal praise.  God's mercy is beyond what we can imagine.  Consider all the people across all of time who have thumbed their nose at the righteousness of God and ignored His plan for their salvation.  Even those who fear Him can barely comprehend His mercy.  I suspect we'll understand someday and it will drive us to worship and praise Him even more.

 
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
¹⁴ For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
Our sin is blotted out when it is forgiven.   The distance from the east to the west is the same distance the scapegoat took the sins of Israel on the Day of Atonement.  Leviticus said the scapegoat would be led away by a suitable man (the picture of Jesus) to an uninhabited land.  We are much better at remembering our sin than God is and we often punish ourselves in doing so.  As far as God is concerned, our transgressions are removed, as if they were never there.  He is our heavenly Father and He pities us.  He has shown brought to us His plan for our redemption in spite of our reluctance to accept it.  He knows us because He created us.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.

Life is short.  The older we get the more we come to realize that.  It seems we spend so much of our life figuring out how to get our priorities straight and then don't have the time left to live it out.  Maybe that is our preparation for heaven.  Like the grass that is green and growing or the flower that is beautiful so is our life.  But the wind passes over it and the grass withers and the flower fades.  So is our life withering and fading, and we pass away.  Soon, we'll be remembered no more.

¹⁷ But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children,
¹⁸ To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.
The contrast of the short life of man to the eternal God who is from everlasting to everlasting puts us in our place.  It is a low place looking to a high God.  It is seeking something more then this short and pain-filled life.  It is seeking purpose.  That purpose is found in Him.  He is our Father, we are His children.  We submit to Him and follow His ways.  It is our desire to please our God and keep His commandments and His covenants.

¹⁹ The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.
All we have is pictures in our head of what this might mean.  We get short glimpses in the bible of the throne of God.  Yet, no one could look at it and report back.  They could only fall on their face before Him because they came to realize how low man is and how high and holy God is. 

²⁰ Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
²¹ Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
²² Bless the LORD, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

All kingdoms will submit to that throne.  He rules over all.  And all around that high and holy throne are the angels ministering before the Lord.  These angels are strong and mighty.  They wait on Him and act on His every word.  This brings joy to the Lord. 

How can my soul bless the Lord?  By not rebelling against Him; by acknowledging that we are his children and He is our God.  We look to Him and agree with Him that we are low and sinful creatures.  We repent and turn from our sin and trust in Jesus Christ.  God loved us so much that He gave us Jesus Christ to come die for our sins so we don't have to.  This salvation is available to all people.