PSALM 103 - Forget Not

Introduction

If you were to take a look at our kitchen cupboards at our house (and our pantry downstairs), you will find several bottles of Russian salad dressing. This is not because we are particularly fond of Russian dressing—it is because I keep forgetting to buy the right kind of dressing for Jodee’s cranberry chicken recipe. It has to be a particular kind of red Russian dressing, not the Ken’s restaurant-style orange version. (This is a legitimate difference—the recipe really wouldn’t work with the orange kind...) Needless to say, Jodee has become much more explicit about Russian dressing on the shopping list she gives me now...

I’m not good at remembering what I’m supposed to pick up from the grocery store, so I carry a shopping list so I don’t bring home the wrong kind of dressing. But the psalmist in Psalm 103 has a far more important list for us to remember:

Psalm 103:2 LSB

Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;

It’s easy to read past this verse, to take it in some general sense of thinking warm fuzzy feelings about how good God is to you. But consider this verse in light of our earlier Scripture reading in Deuteronomy 8, and this verse calling us to remember “all His benefits” takes on a far more spiritually urgent tone. Forgetting all that YHWH had done for them was the first step in Israel’s falling away from Him altogether:

Deuteronomy 8:19–20 LSB

“Now it will be, if you ever forget Yahweh your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. “Like the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

In his book, Time Well Spent, Puritan author and pastor Ezekiel Culverwell offers a striking warning based on Psalm 103:2:

The thankful person must faithfully record his mercies, else God cannot have His due praise for them. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:2). Forgotten mercies bear no fruit; a bad memory in this case makes a barren heart and life. (Smith, D. W., ed. (2020). Ore from the Puritans’ Mine: The Essential Collection of Puritan Quotations (p. 288). Reformation Heritage Books.)

Forgotten mercies bear no fruit—Christian, you will not progress in your walk before God; you will not grow in grace and knowledge of Him if you cannot remember all He has done for you! Another Puritan pastor, John Flavel, drives home the importance of writing down all of God’s faithful dealings with you:

Preserve thy experiences of past mercies, and thy hope will grow stronger for the future… He is the best Christian who keeps the history of God’s gracious dealings with him most carefully so that he may read it in his past experiences when at any time his thoughts trouble him and his spiritual rest is broken with distracting fears for the future. (ibid.)

Psalm 103 is David’s best attempt to write down all that he can remember of God’s steadfast covenant love towards him—look carefully, and you will see in nearly each section of this psalm David brings up the lovingkindness of YHWH toward Him:

Psalm 103:4 LSB

Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Psalm 103:8 LSB

Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

Psalm 103:11 LSB

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

Psalm 103:17 LSB

But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,

I want to challenge you this morning to put into practice this kind of careful and deliberate remembrance of the steadfast faithful love of God toward you this morning. The Scriptures tell you that remembering all of God’s faithfulness toward you is not just a nice thing to do—it is essential to strengthening your heart for hard times ahead; it is essential for protecting your heart from the temptations to wander away from God for the false promises of this world; it is an essential element in what we do when we gather together in worship on the Lord’s Day:

Psalm 103:1–2 LSB

Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;

Here is what this psalm teaches us—what God’s Word lays out for us this morning is that

A steadfast CHRISTIAN must be DILIGENT in REMEMBERING the steadfast LOVE of God

You can see, can’t you, how this psalm fits into the fourth Book—the fourth “movement—of the cantata of the Psalter? Book IV is “Back to the foundations”—the exiles returning from captivity were the children and grandchildren of people who had forgotten the lovingkindness of YHWH—this psalm that King David had written centuries earlier was placed here as a way for them to remind themselves never to forget again!

David begins his reflections of the lovingkindness of YHWH by remembering all of the ways he had seen it personally—so we can start at the same place: Verses 1-5 call your attention to

I. God’s Lovingkindness in your OWN LIFE (Psalm 103:1-5)

Psalm 103:1–5 LSB

Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

As you consider the steadfast faithful love of God in your life, Christian, look first at the ways He

RESCUES your life from TROUBLE (vv. 2-4)

The very first benefit that David commands his soul not to forget is the most important rescue of all—the rescue without which none of the other benefits would have any value at all: He pardons all your iniquities! From David the murdering adulterer rejoicing over YHWH’s pardon of his sins to the exiles rejoicing over His forgiveness of their unfaithfulness to Him toy you and I rejoicing over the freedom from the penalty and power of sin through the finished work of Christ, the lovingkindness of God to pardon iniquity is the one benefit that makes all the others worthwhile. And so every remembrance of God’s lovingkindness in your own life has to start there.

Because what good is it for God to “heal all your diseases” of your body only for your body and soul to be thrown into Hell one day? What good is it for Him to bring you back from the brink of the pit of death if you just continue sinning your way through this life earning more eternal death?

But when the steadfast lovingkindness of YHWH has pardoned all your sins, then all of the rest of His benefits fall into place. He not only rescues your life from trouble, He

ADORNS your life with BLESSING (vv. 4-5; cp. Ps. 5:12)

Look at the second half of verse 4 and verse 5:

Psalm 103:4–5 LSB

... Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

He is not content to cancel your debt against Him by pardoning your iniquities so that you are at the “minimum viable position” before Him—His lovingkindness in your life means that He will never stop blessing you! He will “crown you” with His mercy and love and kindness— Psalm 5:12 says He will “surround you with favor as with a large shield”! He makes you the object of His lovingkindness and His compassion, and He makes lovingkindness and compassion the source of your glory—you will be a source of blessing and joy to others as you work out the mercy to others that He has worked in you!

There is a stunning promise in Verse 5 that we could easily pen up into an entire sermon by itself—the promise that God will “satisfy your years with good things.” To be sure, God is the source of all good things—He pours out riches and wealth and fame and fortune on whomever He will. But how many people do you know who are rich beyond their wildest dreams and are miserable? He gives wealth to anybody, but the gift of contentment with what He gives is only for those that He loves. David’s son Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 5:19

Ecclesiastes 5:19 LSB

Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor; this is the gift of God.

This is why a multimillionaire on his yacht in the Caribbean has to down twenty milligrams of Lexapro before he can enjoy watching the sun set over Saint Lucia, while a Christian can sit on the porch of his double-wide trailer and be brought to tears of happy contentment watching the chickens scratching in the yard. Because the lovingkindness of YHWH has adorned his life with blessings! Christian—do not forget these benefits! Be diligent in remembering the steadfast lovingkindness of YHWH in your life!

In the next five verses David turns his attention from God’s faithful covenant love for him in his own life and considers

II. God’s Lovingkindness in EXERCISING JUSTICE (Psalm 103:6-10)

Psalm 103:6–10 LSB

Yahweh performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always contend with us, And He will not keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, And He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Here David turns his attention to God’s faithful love for His people in the midst of their oppression to remind us that

He will bring VINDICATION for His OPPRESSED people (vv. 6-7; cp. Ex. 2:23-25)

David takes us back to when the children of Israel were being enslaved in Egypt in Moses’ day. The lovingkindness of YHWH toward His people was seen by Pharoah as terror and destruction as He brought them out of their captivity by His strong hand. God’s steadfast faithful covenant love for His people meant that He would not leave them in their captivity:

Exodus 2:23–25 LSB

Now it happened in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the slavery, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their slavery rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel, and God knew them.

Christian, you have a great and unflinching hope in the midst of a world that hates and reviles you for your faith—the steadfast faithful lovingkindness of YHWH toward you means that He will vindicate His oppressed people. And in more than that—Verses 8-10 assure you that through His lovingkindness

He will show GRACE to His GUILTY people (vv. 8-10)

Psalm 103:8–10 LSB

Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always contend with us, And He will not keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, And He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities.

David comes back again to that foundational blessing of God’s lovingkindness—that He does not deal with us according to what we deserve. It’s not easy to see in the English translation here, but there is a poignant moment in Verse 9 where David writes “God will not always contend with us” when you consider that the name Israel means “he who contends with God”!

Think of it—rebellious, contentious Israel, always pushing back against YHWH’s reign, always striving and wrestling against Him—the day will come, says David, when YHWH will put all that striving to an end! He will so transform the hearts of His people so that they will delight to obey Him; they will rejoice to be conformed to His likeness.

Look down through verses 11-14, and you will see David developing that theme—be diligent in remembering

III. God’s Lovingkindness in your SANCTIFICATION (Psalm 103:11-14)

Verse 11 marks off another section where David shows us another facet of the lovingkindness of YHWH:

Psalm 103:11–12 LSB

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

How can David say that the day will come when YHWH will stop contending with His contentious people? Because

He REMOVES your REBELLIOUSNESS (vv. 11-12)

His lovingkindness toward you is so great, beloved, that He will stop at nothing to take away your rebel heart! He will remove your guilt so far from you that it cannot be found again! See, if David had said that God removes our guilt as far as the north is from the south, that would have represented a fixed point, right? Our sins are removed exactly 12,430 miles away!

But what David says here is that our sins are removed an infinite distance away! If you head west, you will never arrive at east! The lovingkindness of YHWH means that He aims to remove the presence of sin from your life, Christian—He aims to make you more holy than you ever thought possible in this life! He aims to conform you to His image, to write His Law on your heart, to cause you to treasure His character and delight in His precepts; He will progressively move you further and further away from the sins and iniquities and transgressions of your past and closer and closer to His own perfections!

But notice that as He does this, He does not do it like a screaming drill sergeant or a hard-nosed coach—in the process of removing your rebelliousness,

He REMEMBERS your FRAILTY (vv. 13-14)

Psalm 103:13–14 LSB

As a father has compassion on his children, So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our form; He remembers that we are but dust.

In Romans 5 the Apostle Paul writes about the afflictions that God brings into our lives; that

Romans 5:3–5 LSB

...affliction brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

You’ve heard us talk about what we call “fast-track sanctification”—times in your life when God ordains more difficulty or suffering or loss or hardship than you ever think you can bear. But here in Psalm 103 we are assured that though God ordains such hardships, He remembers our frame! He knows that we are dust; He understands what we can bear. He loves us the way a dad loves his kids; and just as a loving dad would never be cruel or unnecessarily hard on his children, neither will your Heavenly Father! He aims to make you holy, and He will do it in your life with lovingkindness that reaches higher than the highest heaven!

David continues meditating on our frailty in the next two verses:

Psalm 103:15–16 LSB

As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flowers. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer.

The day is coming—all too soon—when we will finish our brief vapor of a life on this earth. But here as well the steadfast love of YHWH comforts us—consider here

IV. God’s Lovingkindness toward your GENERATIONS (Psalm 103:15-18)

It is all too easy to look around at the state of our world today and begin to fret about “what kind of life will my kids have? What kind of world will my grandchildren grow up into?” We fear for the days after we have left this life and what will happen to the generations that we leave behind.

Psalm 103:17 LSB

But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,

Christian, you can rest in the lovingkindness of God for your children and your children’s children even though

You will not be REMEMBERED (vv. 15-16)

I remember listening to an interview with a pastor whose ministry had gotten him a moderate amount of attention on social media. The interviewer asked him one of those typical questions that you hear at the end of an interview: “So, in light of everything that you’ve done in ministry, how do you want to be remembered?” Without missing a beat, the pastor replied, “I want to preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.”

Beloved, that’s freedom in light of God’s everlasting lovingkindness! No fretting or fear over what people will think of you after you’re gone or whether your reputation will survive—it won’t! Just live faithfully—serve your family, love your spouse, worship God on the Lord’s Day, do with all your might what God gives you to do. And when He calls you home to Him one day, you won’t have to worry about whether anyone will remember your name—because

God cannot be FORGOTTEN (vv. 17-18)

Psalm 103:17–18 LSB

But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.

What does it matter whether anyone remembers your name in a hundred years? Look around on the windows of this sanctuary and you will see the names of faithful saints who freely donated of their own funds for windows—no one remembers their names today or anything about them.

But what does it matter, since the same God they worshipped here a century ago is still known and praised and worshipped here? Beloved, when you gather here for worship with your children and your children’s children, let your joy rest in the knowledge that He will be remembered in this place long after you are forgotten! And when your great grandchildren gather on the Lord’s Day to worship Him in spirit and in truth, even if they can’t remember your name they will never forget His!!

Stand steadfast in your diligence to remember the steadfast love of God, Christian! Never forget His lovingkindness in your life, never forget His lovingkindness in exercising justice on your behalf; His lovingkindness in your sanctification, His lovingkindness toward all your generations.

As David brings this psalm to a close, he takes all of these “benefits” of God’s lovingkindness as fuel for

V. Our RESPONSE to God’s Lovingkindness (Psalm 103:19-22)

There are two things that David calls us to do in response to the overwhelming steadfast love of God in this psalm:

Psalm 103:19–22 LSB

Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens, And His kingdom rules over all. Bless Yahweh, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless Yahweh, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless Yahweh, all you works of His, In all places of His rule; Bless Yahweh, O my soul!

See here in Verse 22—where does David say that God has established His Kingdom? Over all! And so where should we praise and bless and remember His lovingkindness? In all places of His rule (v. 22)!

Praise him then, Christian—meaning

Praise Him in EVERY PLACE (vv. 19, 22)

Learn to be constantly aware of the lovingkindness of God toward you—at every time, in every situation. As those old Puritans urged, preserve thy experiences of past mercies—the faithful Christian will record the mercies of God and not forget them so that God will be praised as He ought. And you can do this the same way preachers like Culverwell and Flavel did—keep a journal of God’s mercies to you.

The idea of journaling has become very self-centered in our day and age; it can be a very unhealthy and self-absorbed habit of constantly focusing on yourself. But what those old writers are recommending to you is to record what God has done for you, not what you have done that you are proud of.

Get yourself a cheap perfect-bound journal at Walmart or Dollar General and just start writing down day by day what God has done for you. Use the outline of this sermon as a way of categorizing the lovingkindness of God in particular areas: His mercies in your own life, in the victories He gives you over your sin, in the faithfulness He shows to your family and the next generation, His mercies in doing justice in the world around you, and so on.

Be diligent in recording and remembering all His benefits and you will see your joy in praising Him grow; you will have more peace and confidence in Him in difficulty, you will have greater stories to tell of His faithfulness— remembered mercies bear much fruit, a good memory makes a bountiful heart and richly satisfied life!

See our response to the lovingkindness of YHWH—we are to praise Him in every place, but mark it well, beloved—we are also to

Praise Him in OBEDIENCE (vv. 19-21)

Psalm 103:19–21 LSB

Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens, And His kingdom rules over all. Bless Yahweh, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless Yahweh, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will.

See the way he repeats the same idea over again: the angels bless YHWH who perform His word, and the mighty hosts (a military term) for those who serve Him by doing His will.

The blessings of the lovingkindness of YHWH are for those who do His will; for those who obey Him. Look back again at verses 17-18:

Psalm 103:17–18 LSB

But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.

This is the question that God’s Word poses to you this morning: Do you have any share in these benefits? Do you fear God as you ought? Is there never a moment in your life when you disregard God’s holiness so that you can indulge your own sinful desires? These benefits are for those who keep His covenant: For David that meant perfectly obeying all 617 precepts of Moses’ Law; for you and I that means never once breaking the moral law represented in that covenant.

The Law says do not take YHWH’s Name in vain—have you ever used God’s Name as a swear word? Have you ever used the Name of Jesus Christ as an exclamation of anger or shock—even once? Have you ever called yourself a Christian so that people will think well of you and leave you alone and not ask about the sin in your life? The Law says do not commit adultery—have you ever used pornography to satisfy your sexual desires? Ever? If you have done any of those things, you are a lawbreaker, and have no share in the blessings of the lovingkindness of YHWH.

You have a promise from Him, though—His unbreakable and inescapable promise that “the soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). You have His promise that your sin will not stay hidden:

Numbers 32:23 LSB

“...behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and be sure your sin will find you out.”

You have the unfailing promise of God that you will be judged for your sin in front of the whole world someday:

Revelation 20:12 LSB

Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

And there is one more promise that God has made to you—the greatest promise that you can ever have—that you can be delivered from the consequences of your lawbreaking, sinful deeds by the blood of Jesus Christ!

Because on that Cross, God took all of your lawbreaking—all of your faithlessness, all of your lust, all of your lies and hatred and bitterness and laziness and deceit—and placed them on His own Son Who had never sinned, but stepped into your place to die under the wrath of Almighty YHWH God so that you could go free.

And the unbreakable promise of His steadfast love is that through Jesus Christ, He has pardoned all of your iniquities! When you confess your sins and turn away from all of it and turn toward Christ tho live in Him and serve Him and trust Him, then God counts the perfect obedience of Jesus as yours! In Christ you are perfectly obedient to God; In Christ you are faithful to God’s will; in Christ you are perfectly holy and righteous and faithful in God’s sight. And God the Father will pour out all the blessings of His steadfast covenant love on you freely and abundantly because of the righteousness you possess because of the steadfast faithful lovingkindness of your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

2 Corinthians 13:14 LSB

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.