Bless the Lord, O My Soul!
“Bless
the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless
the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your
iniquity, who heals all your diseases…”
(Psalm
103:1-3, NRSV)
The
assurance and comfort we receive from a daily habit of reading the Psalms
reaches beyond our imagination. The
scriptures feed our souls like no other literature can do. We may gain insight and knowledge from
various other texts and sources, but nothing replaces the nourishment we
receive when reading God’s Word.
The
emphasis in the quoted Psalm is our recognition of a God who is our personal
Savior and Healer. He saves us from our
sins, from all past, present, and future sins.
He also brings about healing to our souls as we accept his forgiveness
and pardon. While our outward person may
face pain and suffering, his saving and healing presence renews our inward person. Once I begin to see and believe this, I will expend any and all of my
resources to praise/bless his holy name.
I will live a life of honor to him while not forgetting what he has done
for me. This changes our outlooks and
perspectives on daily life. We will
never be the same if we begin to see our lives through this lens, the lens of a
saving and healing Father.
“In
him is only good, in me is only ill.
My
ill but draws his goodness forth,
and
me he loveth still.”
(Charles
Spurgeon)
Trent
I love reading the psalms! They remind me that perfection before God is not the goal, and that He is present, with me, no matter what's happening or how I feel. His love and grace are not dependent on me, they are absolute! I've also made it a practice to read Proverbs daily (or close to that)....with 31 chapters I can just read the chapter with today's date. :)
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