Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
103 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 none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your [a]years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.6 The Lord performs [b]righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
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 rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who [c]fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who [d]fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows [e]our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
This psalm is full of the incredible things God does for us, not least of which is pardoning our sins, again, and again. More amazing than anything else is how God redeems our lives “from the pit”. The life (and death) of Jesus trumps all miracles, and yet He doesn’t stop there. He pursues us every day, with unfailing love.
Multiple times, this psalm reminds us of the lovingkindness and compassion of God. And why is He so patient, why does He continue to forgive, even when we should know better? Skip to the end (v. 14): He knows our frame, and that we are but dust. God knows, first because He made us, knit us together in our mother’s womb, fearfully and wonderfully, but still frail as dust.
Second, He knows because He experienced it. He walked as we walk, He was tempted even as we are tempted (perhaps more even), He died as we die (yet worse). And now He lives, knowing us both inside and out, knowing every detail, and still extending His grace, compassion, redemption, and restoration.
Skip to the end in another sense, and He forbears because He knows victory, He has seen it. And I don’t know how it works exactly, but if God is truly outside of time, then He has already experienced it. He already knows what it will be like to spend eternity with us, because He is both here and there. And He chose you still, in spite of any flaws you might think you have, to be His own. Embrace it, embrace Him, and thank Him for all of it today.