Spiritual dryness and indifference is a state we find ourselves in many times. Where we feel “sian” about most things in life and especially life as a Christian. We find little joy and enthusiasm in our Mondays to Fridays, weekends are too short to be any form of respite, and maybe even our life in church is troublesome and messy. Our ministry wears us down rather than lift up our souls as we serve God.
You don’t have to be a Christian to feel “dry” though. Life isn’t all good nor all bad, but it is stale. We don’t have much going to look forward, no highs nor lows. Just monotonous. What is the Bible’s response to those of us who feel this way? What can truly lift us up? How can Christians lift their souls up to worship and praise God.
Psalm 103 is bursting with praise and worship of the LORD. The psalmist urges his whole being to bless the LORD by remembering all his benefits, and in doing so, his heart wells up in praise to God. Today, we too have all his benefits through Christ.
(A) Bless the LORD: The LORD is Worthy of All Blessing (103:1-2, 20-22)
Psalm 103 was written by King David. Who is David? This is the man that God chose and made a covenant with. Unlike many other psalms, there are no mentions of enemies and threats, no requests and complaints in Psalm 103. Therefore, we know very little about the context of this psalm, however, we can still see how the psalm logically flows as a song of praise and worship.
Right from the beginning, we see that the LORD is the main character of this Psalm (Ps 103:1). The LORD is the name of God from Exodus 3:13-14 where God reveals his name to Moses. God revealed himself as The LORD: “I AM WHO I AM” or YHWH (Yahweh) in Exodus 3. This name is God’s holy name: the name which points to his independence, his holiness (set apartness), his self-existence (cf. Psalm 103:1b). Throughout this entire psalm, God is exclusively referred to as “the LORD”. He alone is creator: everything and everyone else is created.
The LORD is also God’s covenant name pointing to his covenant making and keeping faithfulness with his people. God makes the covenant every single time! When we read “the LORD”, we are to remember that God makes the covenant and He will keep it!
The psalmist writes about blessing the LORD with his soul and all that is within him (Ps 103:1-2). How do you use this idea of blessing in your life? Perhaps we are used to it in life when someone sneezes and we utter a “bless you”. People used to believe that a sneeze cause someone to expel their soul out of their body, and so “bless you” was a protection against evil spirits from entering your body. Or perhaps we use it to thank someone or to express gratitude, to express sympathy for another or even in a sarcastic way. But, what does it mean to “Bless the LORD”?
Here the psalmist speaks about blessing the Lord with his soul, and all that is within him (Ps 103:1). This is an action that is not half-hearted, but is one that is fully committed. This blessing is to praise, to thank and to speak well of. And, praising is part of enjoyment — we cannot but praise what we enjoy. Therefore to “Bless the LORD” must come with enjoying and loving the LORD himself. To bless the Lord on our part doesn’t really add to Him. We are appreciating Him more, but we’re not adding to His nature.
By speaking of blessing the LORD with his soul, it is not a superficial speech we are talking about here but one that flows from within and encompasses one’s entire being. He desires to bless God with all his with his capacities, capabilities, energy, “with all your heart mind soul and strength”. Blessing the LORD is not done in a half-hearted manner; it is not flattery nor insincere. Bible teacher John Piper, when speaking on how Jesus speaks against the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 15:8-9, puts it this way: “Blessing God with the mouth but not the soul is hypocrisy”.
Thus, this blessing of the Lord is wholehearted praise of the Lord that is not flattery or insincere. It is certainly not making something that is not great, great! David here is preaching to himself to not let this hypocrisy happen
To urge himself even further to bless the LORD, the psalmist says in Psalm 103:2 to “forget not all his benefits”. Not forgetting the benefits of the LORD is part of worshipping and praising him. In doing so, we remind ourselves that we do not just just want His gifts and not Himself. That is idolatry. God’s gifts can deepen our praise and worship of him and this is what the psalmist helps us to do today in Psalm 103. God’s benefits should bring each of us to gratitude and worship.
How can we apply this today? We all know the struggle of showing up in church, going through the motions to sing songs we already know without thinking much about what we are singing about. At church, we just want to get through the sermon so that we can leave soon after for a meal and hang out with our friends.
Maybe we also go to Christian events the same way: Bible studies, small or cell groups, our ministry or service, and even our own Bible reading plans. This is especially dangerous to “seasoned” Christians who know the right words and right songs, but inside, deep down, we know are spiritually parched. We haven’t enjoyed God’s word nor his presence for a long time and we have no idea how to get out of this cycle of spiritual indifference.
Are you spiritually dry and indifferent today? Do you feel “sian” when approaching God in his word, in prayer and in your worship of him. Notice here there is no dark room here, music playing, or anything else that we might find ourselves turning to when we feel spiritually low/dry. See how the psalm starts for those of us who are indifferent or feeling “sian”. David urges his soul and all that is within him to “bless the LORD”. He desires for his whole being to be blessing and praising the LORD. He is preaching to himself in this entire psalm to bless the LORD
Have we been half-hearted in our worship of God? Of course we have in some way or form! Friends, see how Psalm 103 does not go: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and…
… find yourself a dark room to pray”
… listen to Christian music on loop”
… hang out with more Christian friends”
… make sure to be present at church every Sunday”
… gather up more faith to trust God”
But Psalm 103 says: to “forget not all his benefits”: the psalm hits us with truth after truth about God and his benefits. This psalm helps us those of us who are spiritually dry to well up in praise to God.
If you are a non-Christian today, let this psalm show you who the LORD is, and why he is worthy of all blessing and praise. See how the LORD relates to man and why he is trustworthy today.
By the end of this psalm, in Psalm 103:20-22, the psalmist is calling all to bless the LORD. He moves beyond just his own self and calls the angels (heavenly beings, mighty ones who obey God’s word), his hosts (the heavenly armies who do God’s will) and His works (all of creation).
And it ends where the psalm started: “Bless the LORD, O my soul!”. The psalm starts and ends with blessing the LORD. That is the psalm’s entire focus. By the end of the psalm, the psalmist goes beyond his own soul and calls all of creation to join in blessing the LORD because he is worthy of praise.
Whatever is between the start and the end causes the psalmist to well up and overflow in praise, ending with a call for all to bless the LORD. What exactly is in between the opening and closing verses that is so amazing then that causes the psalmist’s worship and praise of the LORD to grow and grow and grow?
(B) Forget Not All His Benefits: Ours Through Jesus Christ (Ps 103:3-19)
The psalmist details the first set of benefits in Psalm 103:3-5. God “forgives all your iniquity (103:3a, 9-10)”. This is the first benefit — the benefit of being made right with God. Notice how it is not a happy life or a comfortable life. It is not a promotion or a pay rise or so that you can climb the social ladder. It is not fixing your problems or issues. This first benefit is astounding — God forgives all of our sin against Him!
Notice the emphasis on “all”, not just some but all. It is complete, total forgiveness. This means that God does not hold our rebellion, rejection and disobedience of him against us. Psalm 103:9-10 also tell us that God will not always chide or rebuke us. His anger and wrath will not be against us forever.
In Psalm 103: 10, the psalmist also writes, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquity”. God does not punish us for our sins against him. He forgives us. How merciful is God! This is shocking, could God just forgive us like this? Is it that easy? Is that fair? This is shocking also because we know that God judges and deals with sin. He doesn’t just forget and ignore sin. How can this be then?
God also “heals all your diseases (103:3b, cf. Isa 6:9-10)”. Certainly, He cures physical sickness, all of it. But this could be a metaphor for spiritual restoration as well as it is paired with forgiveness of iniquity here. God can cure us of our spiritual deadness, our hard hearts that turn away from him. Our hearts that refuse to repent even though we know we are in sin, our pride and idolatry gets in the way.
The psalmist also states that God “redeems your life from the pit (103:4a)”. God redeems our lives from the pit. He is able to redeem us from death, the end of all things, the final end of all humanity in our broken world. God is able to even pull us out of the grave, to rescue us from death.
This is also a God who “crowns you with steadfast love and mercy (103:4b)”. God crowns us with his steadfast love and mercy and what an honour that is! What a benefit to be loved by the LORD, the creator of all things. He sets his unfailing covenant love and mercy toward us. This love and mercy cannot be broken, God will make sure of that.
This God “satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (103:5).” We are fulfilled and satisfied with good from God. We have no need, want or lack apart from God. Our strength is renewed like the youth’s and eagle’s, a picture of strength and vitality. Not only does God heals our diseases, but he also gives us strength.
Consider memorising and praying these five verses. Pray and praise God for His benefits! Which of your iniquity has He forgiven? What do you need healing? What does it mean that He redeems you from death? What does it mean that we are crowned with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfied with good?
There are two different scopes of the LORD’s benefits and we also see His character revealed. The first is for all who are oppressed (Ps 103:6). God works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. This is God’s common grace to all, he works justice to the weak, the lowly, the downtrodden, the helpless and oppressed. God protects all from harmful exploitation.
The second is to make known his ways to Moses and His acts to the people of Israel (Ps 103:7). Moreover, God makes himself specially known to his people. God does not hide himself from them but reveals himself. How else could we know him and know his benefits? We only know him because God has chosen to reveal himself to us today, even this is part of his benefits
What is the LORD’s revealed character? The people of God confessed that He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Ps 103:8, cf. Exo 34:6-7). This is the Old Testament’s confession of God’s character. Remember that during Moses’ time, Israel’s survival depended solely on God’s actions and love for them (as we read last week in Psalm 77 about how God rescues his people from Egypt). This is the God we seek to bless through our worship and praise today.
The psalmist goes on to use four illustrations to show God’s steadfast love and mercy toward his people in Psalm 103:11-19. The first illustration is the height between the heavens and the earth — “high as the heavens are above the earth (Ps 103:11)”. This is used to describe the greatness of God’s steadfast love toward his people. God’s steadfast love for us is endless and infinite. You cannot measure nor get your head around it.
The second is the distance from the east from west — “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12). This is used to describe how far God removes our transgressions from us. The distance between east and west is infinity: these two never meet as east and west are direct opposites. God cleanses us from our filthy sin, his cleansing is effective and complete. Do you believe that God can remove your transgressions today? That sinful habit of yours that you cannot seem to shake off, God removes as far as the east is from the west!
The third is how a father relates to his childen — “as a father shows compassion to his children (Ps 103:13)”. God is compassionate and shows His kindness and tender affection in the same way that a father shows compassion to his children. Our earthly fathers are not perfect in so many ways, but their goodness points us to our perfect heavenly father, the LORD. Being a father to us, His compassion towards us is enduring and forever. Good fathers do not abandon nor give up on their children for any reason. This is who God is to His people — a father ready to show compassion to His children.
Next, we see the fleeting and transient nature of man contrasted against the everlasting nature of the LORD’s steadfast love and rule (Ps 103:14-19). God knows our frame and knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust (c.f. Gen 2:7). God understands the nature of man fully since He created us. He knows that we are finite and just “dust” that he breathed life into. He knows our weakness and is able to be patient with us. Man’s days are like the grass, we can flourish like a flower, but when the wind blows, it disappears, and “its place knows it no more”. Such is the temporal nature of human lives. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Sometimes we live our lives expecting it to be forever and we go about building our lives as if it would never end. What are we building in our lives today? If you are feeling spiritually low, what are you hoping for or in? What do you think is going to deliver you at the end? Do you live with the end in mind? Do we remember that we are but dust? Or do we live as if our lives are forever?
In contrast, “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting…and his righteousness to children’s children” (Ps 103:17). This means that God’s steadfast love for His people have never not existed, it has always been and always will be. If you are part of God’s people, i.e. a Christian today, God has never ever not loved you. His love for you did not start only when you believed in Christ. His love is everlasting — He never not loved us for a second. God’s righteousness (his attribute of being righteous) and God’s gift of righteousness (salvation) is to generation after generation. God does not change. He is everlasting. Moreover, Psalm 103:19 tells us that the LORD is the sovereign ruler of all creation. He has always been and always will be
Even with the frailty and brevity of human life, God’s people have the privilege of bringing up or nurturing generations after generation of people faithful to God. This is the privilege of parenthood and discipleship that we have today. We are tasked with sharing God’s everlasting steadfast love generation after generation that more may come to know his abounding love.
Before we go on, let us not forget how every benefit detailed and listed here is to praise Him!
Through Psalm 103, God’s people are identified in different ways. They are “those who fear him” (Ps 103:11, 13, 17) and “those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments” (Ps 103:18). Both groups are the same group of people. How can we be part of God’s people today? Fearing God today is coming to God with a broken and contrite heart (c.f. Ps 51:17). It means coming to God with reverence, humility, awe and fear, and without any presumptions, knowing that God owes us nothing. Do we fear God?
What does it mean to keep His covenant and doing his commandments today? Jesus Christ, with his death on the cross introduces a new covenant in his blood (c.f. Lk 22:19-20). This blood that Jesus poured out for us is for the forgiveness of sins (c.f. Matt 26:26-28). To keep the covenant today then is to trust in the blood of Christ to cover our sins. This is what it means to eat of his body and drink of His blood: we place our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation from the wrath of God against our sins. We trust that through Christ God is able to not count our transgressions against us as he has counted it against Christ on the cross.
Doing His commandments today means real change in our lives as we keep Christ’s new covenant. As we place our trust in Christ and come to Him in fear, humility and reverence, our lives look different. We have new desires and new loves that we did not have before. Our lives are no longer centred around our own glory but God’s. Our obedience is not what saves us from our sins, but it shows that faith and covenant keeping in Christ is real. After all, Jesus himself says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Therefore, keeping the covenant and the commandments is one set and not 2 separate things. One flows from the other.
We started out tonight thinking about spiritual dryness or “sian-ness”, and we spoke about how the psalmist starts off by urging his whole being to bless and praise God. By the end of this psalm, after surveying the multitude of benefits that the LORD gives to his people, the psalmist ends with calling all angels, all creation to bless the LORD.
As we ourselves survey these benefits, we want our worship of God to also be expanding, growing, swelling, increasing.
So many of these benefits sound too good to be true: forgiveness of our sins (no more guilt), healing of all diseases, rescuing us from death, loving us with everlasting steadfast love, satisfying us with good. How can all of this be? Only in Christ, these can all be ours, and our only response can only be to bless the LORD.
Do you struggle with spiritual dryness? How does this psalm teach us to deal with our spiritual lows. Let us pray through this psalm, and think through, enjoy and savour it.