Bless His Holy Name

Let’s start today by looking at the verses we will be diving into.

Psalm 103:1–5 CSB

My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all his benefits. He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion. He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Let’s pray!

Today, you can just stay there in your bible, we will not be going anywhere else.

Charles Spurgeon gave this illustration during a Thanksgiving message.

A gardener had been especially careful in tending one particular rose, which was very fair to look at. But when he went one morning to his favorite rosebush, he found that the flower, of which he had taken such care, was gone. He was very upset, for he thought that some bad boy had stolen into the garden and taken away his best flower.

He was complaining very bitterly of his loss when someone said, “The master has been down in the garden this morning, and he has been admiring this rosebush, and he has taken away that fine bud of which you were so proud.” Then the gardener was delighted that he had been able to grow a flower that had attracted his master’s notice. Instead of mourning any longer, he began to rejoice.

So should it be with anything on which we have set our hearts. Let each one of us say to our Master, “My Lord, if it pleases you to take it, it pleases me to lose it. Why should I complain because you have taken from me what is really your own?”

There are really just two types of people in this world, optimistic people and pessimistic people. Those that focus solely on what they have lost or what they do not have, compared to the people that see what they have and lost and are grateful for both. Today will give you an opportunity to see which one you are, and to give you a chance to see things differently.

Psalm 103 was written by King David when he was elderly and was looking back over his life. The psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving that sounds as if it comes from someone with experience and wisdom that only comes from time with the Lord. It is a psalm of praise and gratefulness. It calls out to all believers to give thanks and praise to the Lord in everything. It is a call to thanksgiving.

Let’s look at it verse by verse.

Psalm 103:1 CSB

My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

There is a reason I truly love psalms, they put into words what we feel when we can not do it ourselves. It is never more true then with Psalm 103 and this season of thanksgiving. It has a cadence of thanksgiving that mirrors our own deepest emotions of gratitude. When David is calling out my soul, bless the Lord with all that is in me, he is not meaning just the non-material part of our nature, but our whole self. Our spirit, soul and body are shouting out to bless the holy name of God. Our everything screaming out praise to the Creator of the universe.

And he continues with this.

Psalm 103:2 CSB

My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all his benefits.

His calling out in worship rings out again, but he is also reminded to not forget all His benefits. It is needed so much in today’s society of selfishness. We need to be reminded of what God has done in our lives. We forget to thank Him daily for getting up in the morning, for the ability to see, hear, speak and understand, for the sun on our faces, to the rain that nourishes the world around us, for the very person seated in the row with you today.

Turn to that person and tell them that you are grateful for them and thank them for being here today.

We take so much of what He does for us for granted. David is expressing in his wise old age, that he may have been selfish, but he remembers where everything he has comes from, God Almighty. Have you done that today?

Let’s continue!

Psalm 103:3 CSB

He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases.

As was stated before, David wrote this psalm later in his life. So as read that God forgives your iniquity, think back on David’s life. He was a liar, an adulteress, a fornicator, and a murderer. Now look upon your life. What has God forgiven in your life?

Are you not thankful for God sending His One and Only Son Jesus Christ to die for your sins. You maybe stained red with the sins of your past, but in God’s eyes you are white as snow, if and only if, you are a repentant believer.

Now to the hard and misunderstood part of this verse. If God heals all diseases, why do we have the health issues we have today? We know that not all diseases are healed, and we will all pass away one day. Let me try to explain this verse.

It is first that all healing, even if you went to a doctor, comes from Jehovah Rophi, the God who heals. Every existence of true healing comes from Him. No limit can be placed on Him. Even the incurable can be cured by Him. It is all in His will and power, not ours.

Secondly, this is also an end times (Eschatology) prophecy. During the Millennium reign, all diseases are cured except for those who rebelled against God and never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Lastly, this is also a messianic prophecy. Christ came so you and I can be born again. Free from the disease of sin and death, that one day we can be in heaven with Him, where there is no diseases nor tears.

Lots to be thankful for in those three verses, but David continues...

Psalm 103:4 CSB

He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.

That word Pit caught my eye as I was studying for this message. Normally, in the bible, hell is referenced by Sheol, so why did David reference hell as the Pit. Well, pit has duel meaning here. Pit not all means hell, but it also means a trap or snare made for large animals. So taking this meaning, we are not only saved from hell, but we David is expressing the continual deliverance from the snare of sin, temptation, corruption, and destruction set forth by the devil.

Only when we get to heaven, will we realize everything we were saved from.

He goes on to say we are crowned. Being crowned gives us the image of an everlasting love that is showered on us day by day through His great love and mercy. It is new every morning. All we have to do is call upon that mercy each day, and He is gracious enough to set it upon us as a crown. That is something we should all be thankful for. Without it, we are just wondering souls dead in our sins.

Let’s finish this out with this last verse.

Psalm 103:5 CSB

He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.

The literal translation here means as long as you live, the Lord will satisfy your long heart, and that He does not with hold any good thing for those who walk uprightly. Sickness and violence may affect the body, but they can not touch the spirit.

Youth is a fleeting thing where the body is concerned, but the spirit can go from one degree of strength to another. The eagle is a symbol of long life and superior strength. Now the eagle also grows old and passes away. What David is trying to say here is the one who dwells in God continually will enjoy a continuous revival, they will go from strength to strength, like an eagle that soars higher and higher.

Every year during Thanksgiving we should take time to Thank God for everything we have both physically and financially, but as the psalmist is trying to get through to us, we should take the time to thank God for everything spiritually also. David is reminding us to take the time to truly realize what God has done for us, giving us His Son Jesus Christ.

Have you given your life to Christ? You have to give your life to Him, to be able to have the insight that only believers have that without Christ we have nothing. Through Christ we have everything.