Bless the Lord O My Soul – Psalm 103

“A Psalm of David. 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.” Psalm 103:1-2

David told his soul to bless the Lord and not to forget all His benefits. My experience is that when my soul is satisfied with abiding in Christ and proclaiming His Name, the rest of me is happier, and less hungry for that which is not good for me. As John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” One Christian chorus puts it this way, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

“He forgives all your iniquities. He heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from destruction. He crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. He satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:3-5

Bless the Lord because He forgives, heals and redeems us. In 1 Peter 1:18-19, Peter reminds us that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from our aimless conduct received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

“He heals our diseases.” 1 Peter 2:24, says that Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” The mother of all diseases is sin. Sin yields disease and death. Christ took our sin upon Himself, and thus, has a legal base to heal us. In Acts 10:38, Peter preached that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He is still healing people today.

Jesus crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies by giving us His Spirit. The Holy Spirit satisfies our mouth with confessions of Christ. He renews our youth by giving us eternal life. Think of it! No matter how old you are now, once you receive eternal life in Christ, you are a young person again. Even 100 years old is young when you have eternal life.

The eagle was thought to regain strength and vigor as it renewed its feathers. [1] Jesus renews humankind’s original strength and vigor by filling us with His Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we read, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The redemption of the soul is beyond anything we could accomplish ourselves. Thus, we bless the Lord for His gracious work in our lives. [2]

“The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” Psalm 103:6

God’s goodness is revealed when He intervenes on behalf of oppressed people. It is His glory to humble oppressors and lift up the oppressed.

“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” Psalm 103:7

One of God’s greatest gifts is His revelation. By making Himself known, He restores us to fellowship with Him. Through His Word, He teaches us who He is, how He works, what He requires of us, and what we may expect from Him. [3] He also reveals to us our purpose.

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.” Psalm 103:8-9

Psalm 103:8-9 basically repeats what God revealed to Moses about Himself. In Exodus 34:6, the Lord passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Our Heavenly Father’s goal is not to exasperate us. Daily, He comes alongside of us by His Spirit and instructs us in His ways.

How thankful we should be that God does not constantly rebuke us! If He dealt with us as harshly as we deserve, we could not stand. [4]

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:10-11

God does not punish us according to our sin when we receive His Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus took the wrath that our sin deserved and gave to us the righteousness of God. It is “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned when I am in Christ... this is what it means to be justified by faith in Christ.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

When God forgives, He removes our sins completely. They are no longer charged against us or brought up in judgment. They are gone beyond recovery. This is why we ask God to forgive us.

In Micah 7:19, we read, “You [God] will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

“As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:13

Like a loving father, He instructs His children when they lack understanding, bears patiently with their weaknesses, comforts them in suffering, lifts them when they fall, forgives them when they repent, and defends them when they are wronged. [5]

The reason for this compassion is that He knows our frailty.

“For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14

God knows how fragile our bodies are, and how imperfect our understanding can be. Therefore, He deals with us gently and mercifully. [6]

“As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.” Psalm 103:15

Our current bodies are like grass or flowers that flourish briefly and then fade away. Being ever mindful of this keeps us humble, less attached to this world, and more mindful of eternity. [7]

“For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children – to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.” Psalm 103:16-18

Though human life is short, God’s mercy is eternal. God’s mercy extends beyond this present life. It reaches back into His eternal purposes and forward into His everlasting glory. Death cannot shorten or diminish the blessings He has prepared for us who love Him. [8]

God’s mercy continues to 1,000 generations of those who love Him. In Deuteronomy 7:9, He said, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

“The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” Psalm 103:19

God does not miss anything. In Matthew 10:29, Jesus said that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from our Father’s will. In Matthew 10:30, Jesus told us, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” He is all knowing. Before AI, it was hard for us to imagine that one database could hold and intelligibly compute so much information, but God is greater than AI.

“Bless the Lord, you His messengers, who excel in strength, who do His Word, heeding the voice of His Word. Bless the Lord, all you His army, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure.” Psalm 103:20-21

David urged all God’s messengers to keep on blessing the Lord. What does God do for His messengers? He gives us strength to hear His voice and do His pleasure. In Philippians 2:13, Paul wrote that “God works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.” Praise the Lord!

“Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!” Psalm 103:22

All creation displays God’s glory, but amidst all created things, nothing else more clearly reflects God’s image than you and me. Thus, we should not let stones or any other created thing render more blessings to God than we do.

In Luke 19:40, when a multitude of His disciples joyfully praised God and shouted, “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord,” the Pharisees in the crowd asked Jesus to rebuke and quiet them down. Jesus answered them, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” [9]

David ends this Psalm as he began it, by singing, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”


[1-8] Material developed and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[9] gotquestions.org/rocks-cry-out.html