He is the One | Psalm 103

Psalm 103 will be the last Psalm!  I mean for now.  I have no plans to do any more psalms at this time, but never say never, you know.  While I was studying this, I just felt like it was the perfect one to end on.  I think you will understand why as we dig into it.  From here we will go into the New Testament!  Matthew here we come!  

[6:20] This psalm is all about how much God loves us and what the benefits of that are.  David begins and ends this psalm with praise.  

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” NIV

“Let all that I am praise the Lord.” NLT

“Praise the Lord with my whole life.” Passion

[9:22] And the benefits are:

He is the one:  who forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with love and compassion, satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.  

Pretty great benefits. Truly where would we be without them?  We sure don’t give much in return either.  All he asks from us is faithfulness, devotion, love above all else.  We obey and give him glory and we get LIFE in return.  It’s a good trade.  

[13:39] I spent too much time thinking about eagles here.  Our knowledge and the symbol of them in scripture doesn’t always match up.  For instance, in Exodus God says that he had carried the Israelites on eagle’s wings.  I have heard this analogy before of being caught up on the wings of eagles, but that is not something that eagles do in real life.  Their wings don’t allow that type of thing.  But eagles are used in scripture to depict strength and safety, so I see why being on eagles’ wings would invoke comfort.  

Another interesting thing about eagles, and all birds actually, is that they molt.  They lose their feathers, but they grow strong, shiny ones back.  When I was pregnant with Bo my parents bought an African Gray parrot.  His name was Aubie (War Eagle. Get it?) Poor Aubie was not emotionally stable.  He stayed anxious and nervous and would pick his feathers out.  Mama and Daddy refused to put him on Prozac as the vet recommended, because, well, he was a bird.  They would grow back though eventually, just as beautiful as before.  I like this picture too.  Beat up, disheveled, stressed out, but able to deal with it, move on, and regrow our feathers.  

[20:57] All these things are great facts and you know I love birds, but this was not what I was looking for to go with Psalm 103:5.  Then I remembered that there was a verse in Isaiah that said something about renewing strength and soaring like eagles.  I had first heard it when Bo was sick and it was encouraging to me.  (Because of his brain tumor he has partial paralysis on the right side of his body, so renewing strength was a hopeful thought.)  When I looked it back up I was blown away.  Two portions of this verse are marked in my Bible, underlined on different occasions.  I get why I did it.  But when I read the whole thing, it was so much better.  The pieces are good on their own, but the whole is much better.

                Do you not know?

                     Have you not heard?

                The LORD is the everlasting God,

                     the Creator of the ends of the earth.

                He will not grow tired or weary,

                     and his understanding no one can fathom.

                He gives strength to the weary

                     and increases the power of the weak.

                Even youths grow tired and weary,

                     and young men stumble and fall;

                but those who hope in the LORD 

                     will renew their strength.

                They will soar on wings like eagles;

                     they will run and not grow weary,

                     they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you see how perfect of a companion this verse is to 103:5?  Yes and amen.  Let it be so, Lord.  Y’all, that’s just the first 5 verses.  So many good things to come. 

[25:10] We learn that the Lord is fair and just.  He does what is right and makes things right according to his purpose and his will.  We’ve talked about how we can rely on God throughout our discussions on the psalms.  Here is more on that:

                The LORD is compassionate and gracious, 

                    slow to anger, abounding in love.

                He will not always accuse,

                     nor will he harbor his anger forever;

                he does not treat us as our sins deserve

                     or repay us according to our iniquities.

                For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

                     so great is his love for those who fear him;

                as far as the east is from the west,

                    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  103:8-12

[32:15] Here is when I was blown away.  David sounds like a New Testament writer here.  He sounds so much like Paul.  Here’s Paul in Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

David sounds like he is writing about Jesus.  He has no idea just how much love God has for us.  Do you see it?  This is why we are moving on.  David is excited about and praising a Savior he doesn’t even know will exist.  Aren’t you ready to learn more about Jesus, too?