Let’s look at these first few verses and expound on each point in this great Psalm for the sermon today. Let’s look at verse one. And you can help me preach today by repeating lines.
I Bless the Lord, O my soul Let’s say it together… Bless the Lord O My Soul
The word “bless,” as applied to God, means to praise, implying always a strong affection for him as well as a sense of gratitude. As used with reference to people, the word implies a “wish” that they may be blessed or happy, accompanied often with a prayer that they may be so. Such is the purport of the “blessing” addressed to a congregation of worshippers. Compare Numbers 6:23-27. Barnes
We say blessings for our homes, our cars, and more personally our children, family and friends. We bless our food when we eat also. Here we are called to Bless the Lord! How appropriate as we express our great gratitude to God from the very depths of our soul …we are blessing and praising God. Then next it says….
II All That Is Within Me Let’s say it together…All that is within me bless the Lord
This reminded me of the greatest commandment that Jesus talked about in the gospel. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind with all our strength. This incorporates every part of our being. I think the psalmist is saying that we are blessing God, we’re worshipping God, we’re praising God with every fiber of our being. There’s no part of who we are that is left off in the inclusiveness of our worship and praise and blessing of God.
When I think of that in general terms it would be to say that there is no part of our lives, there is no activity in our lives that is outside our relationship with God or with Christ, with the Holy Spirit. This is very similar to what Paul wrote in the New Testament, do all things to the glory of God, to praise God, to the blessing of God. This covers every activity of our lives whether we’re at rest, whether we’re at play, whether we’re studying or with our family or whether we’re alone, whatever the situation might be, whatever the activities, we are moving toward giving praise and glory and blessing to God.
So this blessing of God with all of our being is more than just what happens on Sunday. We emphasize having a daily devotional. A daily time with God where we are blessing and worshipping God. I see this like taking a daily shower. We are cleansing ourselves from the old dead cells and being refreshed in that cleansing act. And what happens when we do not take a shower for 2-3 days? We begin to smell right? Life gets stanky. As we bless God and have this daily devotion time, we are renewing our minds and perspective! Without this daily encounter and worship of God, life happenings, worries, problems, frustrations take over and we lose perspective quickly. So we need private worship on a daily basis. In this way we prepare ourselves for the culmination of worship as we come together with other believers for pubic worship as we are today.
The other part of this is when we are worshipping, we are ALL IN. God is the true focus of what we are about in worship. I know so many things are happening in our lives in the context of a week. So many things that might be on our mind that are difficult. And we don’t always, just check those at the door when we come to a worship service. I understand the reality of that. But it is to say that in worship we are focusing on the goodness and greatness of God and in those moments, it is a very stress free, anxiety free, problem free experience.
I see a shadow of this even in secular events also. What do you really enjoy doing in your life? For some it may be quilting, art, or music, outdoor activities, sports, hobbies that you may engage in. Why do you enjoy doing those things? For a many years, I ran up and down a basketball court playing intramural and pick up basketball. I enjoyed it because it was a great way to stay in shape. But the other thing was that on the court my mind was totally free. I was not worrying about finances or school or parenting or the next big decision I had to make. It was a few moments of total freedom from anxiety, worry, frustration about major things I had to deal with.
And I think worship is a similar type experience on a much grander scale. When we come into this place the issues are still going on in our personal lives, our community, nation and world. Those issues are not going away and whenever we leave this place, we’re going right back to them. But in these moments of worship where we bless God, with the full focus of attention clearly on God, great things can happen. I think that’s why worship is renewing, refreshing, and regenerating. And that is why the psalmist is saying “All that is within me.” When I’m in worship, I’m all in. This can be difficult I know. Many distractions and things can captivate our thoughts even while we are in worship. And we miss the experience. We miss being all in.
And I know even as a pastor and trying to prepare my mind and engage in worship there are so many distractions. It’s a battle. But what the psalmist is saying here worship incorporates all of who we are all of life in general and more specifically when we’re here. We’re all in, heart, soul, mind, and strength. “Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless his Holy name.” Sadly, we can go through a worship service and go through all parts of the liturgy and still never truly worship God and be all in. But if we are giving our all in worship, I believe when that happens transformation takes place. Change takes place. Maybe the events and issues that we’re facing in our life are not going to go away, they are still there. But when we meet God and we’re in the presence of God then we experience the grace of God, the goodness of God and it changes us. It changes our mind. It changes our perspective. It changes our attitude. Sometimes even our hearts are changed in the experience of worship and focusing and giving ourselves to the power and presence of God.
So why are we all in in worship? The psalmist is declaring some of those things about the goodness and greatness of God. We are blessing God because first and foremost he forgives us of all of our sins. But I want you to note here, the human tendency is to forget. So the Psalmist challenges us in this next part to “Forget not all his benefits.”
III. And forget not all His benefits Let’s say it together…And Forget Not All His Benefits
A Barnes comments on this: And forget not all his benefits – Any of his favors. This refers not to those favors in the aggregate, but it is a call to remember them in particular.
I recall reading a story of a little boy who was asked to say the blessing over the Thanksgiving meal. He did not say, Thank you Lord for this food we are about to receive….No… He prayed much more specifically. Thanks Lord for the turkey! Thanks Lord for the dressing! Thanks Lord for the cranberry sauce! Thanks Lord for the mashed potatoes! Thanks Lord for the squash casserole! Thanks Lord for the pumpkin pie! He was specifically thanking God for all the food and each item in particular.
So The reference here is not to forget all the particular and specific things God has done.
How many benefits or blessings does God provide us in this Psalm. Could we name them…
I’ve also discovered that memory is a funny thing because we tend to remember the things we need to forget and forget the things we need to remember. And very often the orientation of the human mind is we tend to focus more on our mistakes and our errors and where things went wrong. Sociologists have done studies that prove the orientation of the mind focuses more on what went wrong more than what went right. OR we focus more on what we do not have than what we do have. Financially, we always want more and compare ourselves with other who have more, not less.
I love hymn Count you Blessing…name them one by one. This move is to orient us away from how we normally think. He’s saying forget not the blessings of God. The Psalm starts off here with the spiritual part of this. He gets there later. But forget not the reality that God who is good and great and the One…
IV Who forgives all your sin Say it with me… Who forgives all your sin…
This scripture tells us God casts our sins as far as the East is from the West (Ps 103:12).
He places our sins in the sea of forgetfulness never to be remembered any more. (Micah 7:19)
I think it’s important here to realize that you start with the spiritual. Jesus said in the gospels to seek the kingdom of God first. And in the Lord’s Prayer that we pray every Sunday…that prayer starts off with “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s the spiritual element and the greatest concern is that we are in right relationship with God. That’s where we start. That’s where the psalmist starts in Blessing God and recognizing how God forgives our sins. And the crowning point of this comes to its greatest fulfillment in the NT through Jesus Christ. We know he was born to become the supreme sacrifice for our sins. That is how He brought about our forgiveness. Today we are celebrating Holy Communion which is remembering, not forgetting how our forgiveness was made possible.
The Greek word for thanksgiving is “eucharistos” which literally means “to be grateful”.
Now some of you are already making the connection with the word eucharistos to a more familiar term, Eucharist. Many of you probably know that the Eucharist is another term used to speak of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. So, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, is a meal of what? Thanksgiving…even a part of the ritual for Communion is called the Great Thanksgiving. But the main point here is that this holy meal is tied to sacrifice like the OT offerings. But in the NT the Thanksgiving involves remembering and the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Here as in the OT, the emphasis on thanksgiving remains on “giving”. Christ has freely given Himself as sacrifice for us all. Therefore, we give thanks to God in the Eucharist, thanksgiving meal. We bless the Lord in His ultimate sacrifice for us and our forgiveness.
Well, I was reflecting further on this and even the secular psychologists note about what it is that really gives us fulfillment. What is it that really brings us soul satisfaction? The article also quoted a Michigan psychologist, Christopher Peterson who indicated that forgiveness is the trait most strongly linked to happiness and fulfillment. Much more than money or possessions. Peterson said it is the queen of all virtues and probably the hardest to come by. These secular psychologists are affirming what the Bible already says. They are discovering the truth that is already in God’s word. And what the psalmist is reflecting here is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. The forgiveness of our forgiveness and being reconciled to God that we might also extend Christ’s love and forgiveness to others.
V He satisfies our life with good things Say it with me… He satisfies our life with good things!
Now I want to make a quick comment because I am skipping over the part where it reads…who heals all your diseases. And I need to comment on this because it is so important. It reads who heals ALL your diseases. And we may be wondering because we know some people are not healed as we desire. Not everybody receives immediate and miraculous healing. Sometimes healing comes after this life in heaven. But I do believe that all healing comes from God. Surgeries, medicines, and therapies can all assist or help a person find healing. But the true source of healing is God. Without God there is no healing, period.
So this is truly a Double blessing! Spiritually and emotionally, we remember how God has worked in our lives to bring about forgiveness and right relationship with God. And then beyond that the physical and material blessings that have been poured into our lives! God has given to us more blessings than we could number. But so often we take them for granted or fail to remember them.
Notice this Psalm begins with praising God and how does it end? Same expression, praising God. Could this be a great model for us? When we get up in the morning….we give praise to God. When we lie down to sleep at night…we give praise to God. I will give praise to God while I have breath.
Bless the Lord… O my soul and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Let’s come to Communion today…And remember…forget not…all His benefits!