A psalm of David
103
📚Praise 📖 the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
praise his holy name.
2 📚Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits;
103:2 Deut 4:9; 6:12; 8:11. Forgetfulness of God’s benefits is a great fault and will rob us of much joy and consolation.
To inspire his praise David meditates on five ways in these three verses in which God has shown His grace toward him. God forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies. Of course this list is not exhaustive (Ps 40:5).⚜
3 📚Who forgives 📖 all your sins;
who heals 📖 all your diseases;
4 📚Who redeems 📖 your life
from destruction;
who crowns 📖 you with loving
kindness and tender mercies;
5 📚Who satisfies 📖 your mouth
with good things,
so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s.
6 📚The LORD administers
righteousness and justice
for all who are oppressed.
7 📚He made known his ways
to Moses,
his acts to the children
of Israel.
103:7 Moses prayed to learn God’s ways and God answered him (Ex 33:13). The people because of unbelief and rebellion learned only God’s acts and these they speedily forgot (Ps 78:11; 106:13). Like Moses we should pray that God will teach us His ways so that we will have some understanding of His acts (Ps 25:4; 27:11; 86:11) – not that we can ever on this earth learn all of God’s ways (Isa 55:8-9; Rom 11:33).⚜
8 📚The LORD is merciful
and gracious,
slow to get angry,
and has abundant mercy.
9 📚He will not always contend,
nor will he retain his anger
forever.
10 📚He has not dealt with us
according to our sins,
or repaid us according to our
evil deeds.
103:10 Ezra 9:13. If God dealt with us according to our sins we would all be in hell and not one of us would escape.⚜
11 📚For as the heavens are high
above the earth,
so great is his mercy
toward those who fear him.
12 📚As far as the east is from
the west,
so far he has removed
our transgressions from us.
13 📚Like a father pities
his children,
so the LORD pities those
who fear him.
103:13 The fatherhood of God spoken of in a small measure in the Old Testament is fully and gloriously revealed in the New Testament (Ps 68:5; 1 Chron 22:10; Isa 9:6; Matt 6:4, 8, 9; John 1:14, 18; Rom 8:15; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 3:14-15; 4:6). God has the nature all fathers should have but which many do not. He is loving, compassionate and understanding, and He considers the welfare of His children above all else.⚜
14 📚For he knows how
we are formed,
he remembers that we
are dust.
15 📚As for man,
his days are
like grass.
He flourishes like a flower
of the field.
16 📚For the wind passes
over it, and it is gone,
and its place remembers it
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,
103:17 David contrasts man’s frailty and brief life with God’s eternal being and perpetual favor (Ps 25:6; John 10:29; 1 Pet 1:3-5).⚜
18 📚To those who keep
his covenant,
and to those who remember
his commandments,
to do them.
103:6-18 Now David considers God’s goodness to the nation Israel, indeed to all who fear Him.⚜
103:18 All the benefits mentioned in this psalm are for a certain type of people – those who fear God (vs 11,13), and those who obey Him. If we do not revere God and attempt to be obedient to Him it is useless for us to try to claim the blessings He gives. For notes on the fear of God see Ps 34:11-14; 111:10; Gen 20:11; Job 28:28; Prov 1:7.⚜
19 📚The LORD has prepared his
throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 📚Praise the LORD,
you his angels,
who excel in strength,
who do what he says,
listening to the voice
of his word.
21 📚Praise the LORD,
all his hosts,
you ministers of his,
who fulfil his pleasure.
22 📚Praise the LORD, all his works
in all places of his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
103:19-22 God is so great, so good, the universal sovereign – Ps 47:2. Therefore David exhorts the whole of creation to praise Him.⚜
103:22 David returns to the opening word of the psalm. He will not urge others to do what he will not do himself.⚜