Psalm 103

So this morning I’m just kind of walking through the motions of quiet time, not really digging in and waiting on the Lord to speak to me, but just very casually reading. You know that process don’t you – you know where you have read something so many times that you have memorized it and now so your attitude is one of “Oh I know this”, yet you really don’t you have just grazed over it so many times you think you do. Hence my experience this morning?

Do any of my bloggers sin? I’m just asking because I know I do and it just seems to me that today the whole issue of sin is just casually grazed over as well. I have this thing in my life, and every single day I have to fight it off. Every day I beg God to change me, fix me, yet I always seem to fall back and I often wonder – am I the only one because the devil sure makes me feel like I am. So this morning as I was doing my “crying out” I happened upon Psalm 103, and I am wrecked. Now that I read it again, I will probably add it to my next blog which is my parallel between Hebrews and Galatians.

I have read Psalm 103 a bazillion times. I sing (not very well) Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul and all that is within me, Bless His Holy Name So my question to the Lord this morning was “Why do I keep struggling???”. The answer came quickly – because “you don’t fear or believe me”. You don’t realize that the blood of My son can truly do all these things, and as long as you “struggle” and continue to row against the wind you will struggle, but be encouraged….I can and will free you, even if all you do is die to it every single day you will see freedom. David is blessing God for who He is and not because David is anything because let’s face it, we can’t do anything without screwing it up. But God…

David is telling us, let’s Praise God and oh by the way, while your praising Him, let’s not forget some things along the way! What should we not forget?
• Vs. 3 – He pardons our sins and heals our bodies
• Vs. 4 – Redeems us
• Vs. 5 – Satisfies us
• Vs 6 – Performs righteous deeds and judgments for those oppressed.
• Vs. 8 – He is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger and abiding in loving-kindness.

Then David says, but wait, we don’t deserve any of this because you know we are just dust (vs. 14) but praise Him anyway because in spite of us, He does not deal with us according to our deeds and in fact as far as the east is from the west he pretty much forgives un even when we sin again and again and again. Not that we are free to sin – please don’t think I’m saying that. I’m just saying…David did a bunch of stuff and he wrote this Psalm, I think we can glean some wisdom from that. Even in spite of David, God still said that David was “a man after God’s own heart”.

I can’t prove this scripturally but I honestly believe that the woman at the well did not walk away and just be free. Jesus told her “Go and sin no more”. When do you think she got free? I believe it was not when she walked away from that well, even though she was obviously changed having been in the presence of Jesus, but I believe that the first time she found freedom was when the devil reared its ugly head up and she chose to say “no”. That is when we get free – when we say NO MORE!!

So maybe that’s the key. Say NO and then remember by the way that Psalm 103 says that in spite of us we are still His, but it is our choices that keep us having to run back to Him for more of who He is!

As for me, I will Bless the Lord today – and I will forget not His benefits, because in the midst of all this dealing with my own stuff – He is not only able to free me –he wants me to recognize I can’t free myself, I never could.

Blessings and Peace, cv