Week 15 Psalm 103
For me it’s a slightly odd (but also helpful) way for David to begin the psalm: praise the Lord, I tell myself (another version says bless the Lord, O my soul).
What I notice is that David’s not saying praise the Lord. That would be saying something to the Lord.
David is saying praise the Lord, I tell myself. That means he’s speaking to himself…telling himself what he ought to say: praise the Lord.
On that day David needed to remind himself: praise the Lord.
But he didn’t leave it at that. Praising the Lord was an abstract thing to remind himself to say. So he spelt out several concrete details that answered the questions “how-&-why do I praise the Lord?”
He forgives all my sins
And heals all my diseases
He ransoms me from death
(He) surrounds me with love and tender mercies
He fills my life with good things…
It was a short but useful list of things the Lord had done.
(David wasn’t finished. He went on to list fourteen more things. The majority weren’t things the Lord had done. They were what he was like. His qualities. Mercy. Love. Grace. Even-temper. Like that.)
For now I’m sticking with the first five. All of them are benefits the Lord has given to me too. I shouldn’t need to remind myself to thank the Lord for them. But – like David – I do.
Note: quotes from Psalm 103:1 & 3-5 (NLT & NASB)