Week 41
Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Psalm 103
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
Psalm 103 (NKJV)
David addresses his own soul because worship sometimes begins before emotion agrees. He summons everything within him to bless the holy name of the Lord.
The great enemy named in the opening is forgetfulness. We may remember our wounds in detail while allowing God’s daily mercies to fade into the background.
David therefore rehearses the benefits: forgiveness, healing, redemption, steadfast love, compassion, satisfaction, and renewed strength. Praise grows where grace is remembered specifically.
God’s goodness is not sentimentality. He executes righteousness for the oppressed and makes His ways known. Mercy belongs to the God who also acts justly.
The center of the psalm echoes God’s own revelation: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Our hope rests in who God has declared Himself to be.
He does not treat His covenant people as their sins deserve. As far as east is from west, He removes transgression—a mercy fulfilled at the cross where Christ bears our guilt.
God remembers that we are dust. His fatherly compassion does not despise human frailty; it meets our brief lives with everlasting covenant love.
Let remembrance become worship. Name the mercies you might otherwise overlook, receive forgiveness without hiding, and join angels, creation, and your own soul in blessing the Lord.
In Conversation with A. W. Tozer
Tozer described divine goodness as the disposition that moves God to be kind, gracious, and benevolent toward His creatures. His goodness is not occasional; it flows from who He eternally is.
Psalm 103 gives that truth a history we can remember. God’s character appears in forgiveness, compassion, justice, patient love, and tender knowledge of our weakness.
A Prayer
Holy God,
Bless the Lord, O my soul; let nothing within me forget His holy name.
Father, bring Your mercies to remembrance. Thank You for forgiveness through Christ, compassion for my weakness, and steadfast love that outlasts my days.
Make remembered grace overflow in grateful worship and patient mercy toward others. Amen.
Dwell This Week with God
Awaken to His presence.
Return often to Psalm 103. Read without hurry, and allow the truth of who God is to become larger than every lesser concern.