I love the word of God! I love the Bible reading plans that get you through the entire Bible in one year. But sometimes I also love taking it slow and meditating on it. Since summers are made for taking it slow, this year I want to meditate slowly with you through my favorite Psalm. So each week we will just take a verse or two together and see what we find.
My favorite is Psalm 103. Charles Spurgeon says, “…it is a Bible in itself.” It contains all the heights and depths of the goodness of God, His kindness toward humanity, and our proper response.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
The Psalm begins with a call to praise. When I approach God in prayer, it is quite often in a “help!” posture. Sometimes in a “thanks” posture. But this Psalm starts with, “praise.”
We praise all the time. We praise our favorite restaurants, our friends and family, our co-workers, even our dogs for crying out loud (“Who’s a good boy?”).
When you praise someone, you are calling to mind and communicating to them their most admirable and remarkable qualities. You are telling them what you’ve seen them do, how you’ve experienced their uniqueness in the world as a blessing.
C.S. Lewis shared another perspective about the act of praising.
“The most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise…The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” (Reflections on the Psalms, 1958).
So enjoying God will overflow into words of praise as sure as enjoying a sip of great coffee, a beautiful piece of music, or a breathtaking rainbow.
And yet.
And yet I am struck by my soul’s complacency. I don’t automatically enjoy and then bless the Lord. Most days in order for this to happen, I need to stir up in myself the affection and attention toward God and exhort or motivate myself to the task. Can you hear the exhortation in David’s tone?
Bless the Lord oh my soul. Praise Him. Come on, you can do it. Get in the head space, or rather the soul space to give God glory.
“Now?”
“Yes now.”
“But I’m tired and I’m cranky and I don’t feel well.”
“Too bad. Do it anyway.”
This Psalm starts in the rawness and realness of human existence. Sometimes our circumstances or even our moods cause us to be gazing so fixedly at ourselves that we miss the glories of God.
This Psalm snaps us out of that and simply says “Do it.”
Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. And not half-heartedly either. Let all that is within me bless His holy name.
This enjoyment of God that leads to praise is called out from deep within. It asks every part of us to stop and gaze at the good and glorious God we know and love.
Our minds, intellects and thoughts. Our affections and loves. Our concerns and worries and tasks. Our bodies with their aches and pains and fatigues. All of us. All that is within us. Just stop for a sec and take notice.
Isn’t He great and glorious? Yes, He is.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!