PSALM 103 BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL PART 2
WE follow our study in this remarkable Psalm. When the Lord revealed His ways to Moses, the Lord spoke intimately of His Creation achievement, and His intelligent design in man and woman. He told Moses to record man’s fall. He gave the account of Noah’s ark and the devastating world flood. He told of Abraham’s plan to sacrifice Isaac, where the Lord intervened, substituting a ram for a precious life. He gave him the first five books to record in the Old Testament. He recorded Moses’ life in three stages of 40 years: priming for the leadership of Egypt; for the patient endurance of desert life, caring for a small mob of sheep; and the awesome leadership of 2 ½ million through inhospitable wilderness. God’s ways are perfect.
While Moses went to the mountain alone, the Lord descended in a cloud, (Shekinah glory) and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name of the Lord. (Exodus 34:5). The children of Israel saw only God’s outward activity, interpreting it from a distance. Psalm 78:11 tells how ‘They forgot His works and His wonders which He had shown them.’ How close are you to see Him work? Or are you far off?
David kept on, in V8, ‘The Lord is merciful and gracious; slow to anger, bountiful in mercy (chezed) , abounding in loving-kindness,’ that is, always in good supply. The bible reveals this mercy as overflowing. Indeed it clarifies this, ‘The Lord proclaimed,’ The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands (God’s generosity of spirit) forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. (Exodus 34:6, 7) Praise Him.
Dr Ted Gibson, President of the Australian Baptist union, always loved to describe chezed. When he preached, he recalled God’s covenant love and consistent nature.
The Lord gently pleads with His rebellious children, for ‘He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.’ How could we survive if our God had justly treated us? David recorded, that He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. (v11) An amazing preface!
Who can estimate the height of the heavens: meteorological with unlimited variations in storms and clouds and sparse oxygen in the stratosphere; the starry heavens with their galaxies; nor the heaven where our Father dwells us, our eternal home? Intricate telescopes pierce the heavens, searching for the wonders hidden from natural vision. Our great Creator placed the ionosphere with a double purpose: it guards us from the ultraviolet which would destroy us, making life impossible on earth: while it is the short-wave medium to take the news of His redemption to many nations. Russia and China dictated that radio use only short wave transmission, opening up these nations to the precious gospel. ‘As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards those who fear Him.’ (v11)
Again chezed appeared. The highest heavens reveal the loftiness of His mercy. In early space travel. One cosmonaut missed the point of no return: and his cry echoed through our homes via the media. Because of His great mercy, we cry to Him and are saved. The Lord used this solemn grandeur to show limitless mercy to us. Let’s tell sinners that they can never exhaust the gentle mercy of our God.
Not content to use the boundless resources of the universe, our Lord teaches us from the rotation of the earth from west to east. ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. ’ (v12) Christ’s victory on Calvary alone enabled the Lord to utterly remove our wrong-doing. Cherish this truth.
Then David spoke of the tender relationship of father and child, ‘For as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.’ (v13) Abraham sensed this tenderness with Isaac, being prepared to offer him; Noah realized it with his 3 sons in the ark; Jacob felt it keenly when Joseph was sold into slavery; Jesse knew it with his son David; Daniel shared this insight when his three spiritual sons were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s inferno; our heavenly Father experienced this heart-break when rebellious man crucified His beloved Son. The Lord pities you in your reverent fear, for it is the beginning of wisdom. Indeed, we are prodigal sons.
The lord shows His insight for ‘He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust!’(v14) He created us from the dust of the earth. After death, we return to dust. Of the 116 elements in the Encarta Encyclopedia (92 only when I studied medicine) 50 are in the dust of our body. The Spirit of God accurately instructed David.
Our time here is brief, for ‘His days are like grass. As the flower of field, so he flourishes.’ It is not a cultivated plant, only a wild growth in the paddock. ‘When the wind passes over it, it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.’ It is fleeting. Contrast the enduring ministry of the gracious Holy Spirit, the wind of God, where heat, frost, snow or drought cannot wither God’s rekindled life.
The fourth study of that remarkable ‘Chezed of the Lord, is from everlasting to everlasting in those that fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children to such as keep His covenant.‘ (v17) ’ Be comforted that His mercy is stable, (invariable), eternal (never-ending) and immutable (unchangeable). We should therefore, regard Him with reverence, respect, and loyalty. Please observe that our righteous Lord guarantees the extension of His chezed from one generation to the following: even to children’s children. Recently a granddaughter spoke to young Slavic people, challenging the necessity of alcohol to have a good time, when the Lord Jesus secretly guarantees such. Tess’s stand for righteousness blessed the mother of a teenager daughter.
David added, ‘The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.’ He who showed mercy (chezed) wields dominion for He is ‘the Ruler over the kings of the earth.’(Revelation 1: 5) Do you know Him and adore Him?