‘The Lord is compassionate and gracious…’ (Psalm 103:8)
Read Psalm 103
For the most part Psalm 103 speaks of the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God and is in many ways a reminder of all the blessings that we will come to know when we come to the Lord. It consists of three parts, beginning with a personal exhortation to worship, followed by a recalling of all God’s mercies to all His people and ending with a call to the whole of creation to come and praise the Lord. But there are also echoes of Psalm 90 here where we see the transience of our own human existence in comparison to the eternal glory of God. Yet it is perhaps the way in which this Psalm ‘speaks’ to us on so many levels that makes it such a wonderful Psalm.
Have a look at just a few ways in which these words might apply to us every single day of our lives. The Lord forgives our sins, He gracious and compassionate, He is slow to anger, He will not treat us as our sins deserve – only a few mentioned in these verses. Andy why might the Lord behave towards us in this way – because of the great love He has for us. A love revealed once and for all through our Lord and Saviour.
From beginning to end this Psalm speaks to us of the infinite grace of God and when we pause to consider this, surely we can do nothing but sing the words of the well-known hymn inspired by this Psalm, Praise my soul, the King of Heaven…
Lord, we join with all creation in lifting our hearts and voices in praise of You. Each day You pour Your blessings upon us in abundance and we thank You with all our being for Your grace, mercy and forgiveness and ask that You would help us to show these same qualities to all whom we know. In Jesus name…Amen.
Question Of The Day: Which prophet foretold of Israel’s captivity by Assyria.