Bless The LORD!: Thoughts on Psalm 103

By Wanda Kirton

You are in a vacuum where all the voices around you are shut out, and there you get to hear, "Feel experience what the God of heaven and earth really, really thinks about you, and it is good."

As you read this book, you will:

• Fall in love with the Creator of heaven and earth
• Understand the Father's heart for you, His pre

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Sep 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685562335

Wanda Kirton

I am Wanda Kirton. When we were children, my parents made sure my siblings and I regularly went to church, and this fanned the flame in me to be passionate about serving God. Over the years, I have been a part of a few student Christian organizations. I have also been on missions for many years. God has been faithful to me, and I pray that I, too, will always be faithful to Him.

Book preview

Bless The LORD!

Thoughts on Psalm 103

Wanda Kirton

Dedication

This book is dedicated to God, who is my everything, and to my mother, who made sure that I was in God’s house from a tender age.

To God be praised that He has placed it on my heart to write this short encouragement to those who read these pages, specifically His bride. May they be strengthened in their inner man, and may Christ be rooted deeper into the fabric of their very being.

To the bride who does not yet know that she is His bride, those still separated from Him, lost in this world. May you give yourself to Jesus, the true lover of your souls, who died to purchase you for Himself by His own blood that you might be His vessels of honor and praise.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Commanding the Soul

Chapter 2: Remember God’s Benefits in Your Life

Chapter 3: The Benefits of the Lord

Chapter 4: The Just God

Chapter 5: The For As Comparison Text

Chapter 6: Man Is Finite While God Is Infinite

Chapter 7: Bless the Lord!

Appendix

Glossary of Bible translations used:

About the Author

Bibliography

Preface

This book came about by Holy Spirit prompting. As I read the words of Psalm 103, I felt impressed to go deeper and draw out the wonderful truth and treasures that God has placed in this psalm. I know that there is unfathomable truth still in this psalm that I have not touched. But my hope is that the one that Holy Spirit has allowed me to bring out would be a wealth of blessing to the listeners and readers of this book.

Introduction

Psalm 103 is a wonderful psalm that commands its audience to bless God. It starts with the command given to bless God but then gives detailed reasons for why people should bless God.

Psalm 103 is considered to be one of the psalms of praise.

From my reading of various commentaries and Bible dictionaries, I realize that although the psalm begins with the words of David, meaning that King David is the one who wrote it, the authorship of this psalm is still questioned by some. Some think that it cannot be written by him but was written at a much later date. Then they are those who think otherwise. Whoever wrote it, I thank them for hearing from the Holy Spirit to pen such a wonderful, encouraging psalm of praise, reflection, and thanksgiving.

The book Bless the Lord: Thoughts on Psalm 103 is a Bible study and meditation on the one-hundred third psalm. It is unique in that it not only looks at the psalm from a Bible study format, but it also incorporates the aspect of prophetic prayers and declarations, along with easy-to-do activities that allow for everyday application. Today in many cultures, as well as in church culture, there is a high level of low self-esteem. As I have grown up most of my life in church culture, I know that a lot of Christians project an image of having a mature faith when, in truth, they are struggling, battling with their true identity. I know this because I, too, have walked that road.

This book seeks to look at God and what He really thinks about us. His thoughts are thoughts of love, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, patience and the list goes on. All these represent His nature. God’s thoughts represent His nature released over us, His true children. Remember what He said to Moses as He passed by him? This truth echoes through this psalm.

Exodus 34:6–7 says, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.’

This book seeks to remind its audience that the born-again believer does not need to walk with his or her spirit broken. Once they repent before God, they are forgiven as if they had not sinned. They do not have to receive the tags and marks that other fallen beings are trying to put on them, whether it be demonic or just another person degrading who they are through negative speech and behavior. As believers, we need to accept the truth of what God, who made us, who shed His precious blood for us, who redeemed us, says about us, and let His Word be final.

Some beneficial points that the readers can take from this book are:

No matter what, it is always fitting to blessGod.

God has His eyes on you to bless you and not to find fault withyou.

God wants you healed; God wants youwhole.

God has been and continues to be very patient with you because His compassion does notfail.

God forgives completely, just as if you had not done thewrong.

God is not complicated. He relates to us in ways that weunderstand.

God deserves your praise because He lovesyou.

My prayer is that as you read this book, indeed, God would speak His heart into your heart, imparting His life, power, and strength to you. Psalm 103 (ESV) says:

Bless the

Lord

, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the

Lord

, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The

Lord

works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The

Lord

is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the

Lord

shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the

Lord

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 to do his commandments. The

Lord

has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the

Lord

, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the

Lord

, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the

Lord

, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the

Lord

, O my soul!

Quick Overview of Psalm 103:

In verse one, the author gives the grand command to himself to bless God. This he repeats in verse two, as well as to give another command that’s just as important. Please don’t forget all God’s goodness to you.

From verse three until verse five, the writer is addressing his soul as if it were a separate entity outside of himself. The author is writing in the third person singular. That is why we are reading your iniquities, your diseases. After this, he speaks about how God has been good to others. Then he speaks about God’s nature in relation to man, after which he speaks about how God is good to us—all inclusive. Then he begins to alternate between the others and the us. Finally, he finishes off by reaffirming the original command to bless God:

Four categories called upon to bless God in verses 20–22:

Hisangels

His hosts, who are Hisministers

Hisworks

Mysoul

Chapter 1:

Commanding the Soul

Psalm 103:1 says, A Psalm of David: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!’

The psalmist opens with the command to his soul to bless God. Being passionate about his God, he emphatically adds that all that make up his being should bless God’s name. At the end of Psalm 103, the psalmist repeats the command to his soul to bless God. Repetition is one of the styles of Hebrew writings. It is used to put emphasis on what is being stated. The writer has not run out of words but is announcing to the reader to take special note of what is being repeated. The verses between 1 and 22 give the explanation as to why one should bless God.

Note also that some versions of the Bible have Praise the Lord instead of Bless the Lord. The literal translation for the Hebrew word Barak would be to kneel, to bless, but the same meaning can be conveyed when using the word praise.

What does it mean to bless God?

To Bless—Definition:

בּרך, bārakh: According to the Strong’s Concordance, this word means to kneel before, to adore, to salute, to praise.

bârak /baw-rak’/: A primitive root; to kneel; by implication, to bless God (as an act of adoration).

To Bless God:

To bless God is to worship God. To bless God is to kneel in adoration and obeisance before Him. To bless God is to praise Him. To bless God is to obey God. To bless God is to thank God for what He has done and is doing. To bless God is to tell Him how much you love Him, to tell Him how much He means to you. He loves to hear us do these things and say these things. Yes, it blesses the heart of God!

How do we know that God’s heart is blessed when we worship Him?

Psalm 22:3 says, Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In this psalm, the writer states that God is enthroned on the praises of his people, Israel. There was no Body of Christ then, just the body of Israel. Those who God had gone into covenant with as well as people from other nations that chose to abandon their gods and accept the God of Israel as their own. When those who love God worship Him with their whole hearts, He cannot resist, but He receives it as incense sweet.

As God did it then for Israel, so He does it now for all who are blood washed with Jesus’ own blood. All who have left the god of this world and all