Noel Kingsley
South Asian Pakistan Church – March 1, 2025
Psalm 103:1-5
Psalm 103:1 | A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Psalm 103:2 | Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Psalm 103:3 | Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:4 | Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies
Psalm 103:5 | Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles
This is a psalm written by David, and it is to his own soul. And he is writing so that he does not forget all the great blessings God has provided to him.
We will study this verse by verse so that we understand the trajectory on how the good Lord is leading us.
Verse 1
The Word Bless
The word translated bless is the Hebrew word “Barak” it is used in both verse 1 and verse 2, and it sets the tone for the entire Psalm.
This Psalm beings with a proclamation of praise. David is not asking for something. He is declaring something.
David is blessing the Lord. And this is not just the cry of David, it is our cry as well.
But how can we bless the Lord? Does the Lord need anything from us? The answer is no. To bless the Lord does not mean we give Him something He lacks. It means we bow before who He is understanding who He is.
The word barak carries the idea of kneeling—of bending the knee—of humbling oneself in reverence and fear of God.
To bless the Lord is to approach Him in submission.
So in the first verse we see:
The purpose of the Psalm – is to bless.
The audience of the Psalm- is our own soul.
The posture we take- is of humble submission.
Soul
Again in verse 1, we must understand what David means when he says, “O my soul.”
The Hebrew word used here is Nephesh. This refers to our living self—the whole of us—the seat of our desire, our will, our appetite, our emotion, and our zeal.
It is not merely our physical body, it is not merely the invisible part of our body. It is our entire conscious being.
David is commanding his inner life to worship, to humble before the Lord.
The Greek word equivalent to this is psyche.
To get a better understanding look at Matthew 10:39
Matthew 10:39 | He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Here “life” refers to the whole self—the person in totality.
The cry from David is for his entire being, all his desires, his emotions, his zeal, his wants to humble and submit before the Lord God almighty.
When the good Lord commands us to lay our life down, we must understand that the natural man cannot desire the things of the Spirit. We cannot lay ourselves down; it is impossible for us.
This is David’s cry in recognition of our inability to humble ourselves, seeking the Lord in dependence that by His grace we may be humbled before Him. Humility is produced by the Spirit of God, it is not self-generated effort.
Without us submitting our desires to the Lord, our whole being to the Lord, we cannot follow the Lord—that is the command of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Scripture teaches us in Romans 12:1
Romans 12:1 | I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
That is the understanding which Psalm 103:1 proclaims. The offering of the whole self in response to the mercies of the Lord.
Bless The Lord
Within the first verse Scripture calls us to Bless the Lord and Bless His Holy Name.
The word used as LORD is the covenant name of the Lord – which is YHWH. That is why in your bible it will be all caps.
Scripture uses the covenant name of God from the very early pages of Scripture. The first occurrence of this name is in Genesis 2:4.
Genesis 4:26 is the first instance in the scripture where people use this name. This is after Enosh, the son of Seth was born.
Genesis 4:26 | And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.
Though God uses this name from the early pages of Scripture, and though the Old Testament saints used this name in the book of Genesis. This is what the good Lord proclaims to Moses.
Exodus 6:3 | I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.
What would that mean? Considering that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did use the name LORD – YHWH, why would God make this statement to Moses?
Because the understanding of name of God, the understanding of the covenant name of God, was revealed gradually through the pages of History.
This name “LORD” which is “YHWH” is the personal name of God which was given specifically to His covenant people.
Covenant people are those whom the good Lord has chosen to be His children. Why would the good Lord choose a specific group of people and give Him His covenant name? Because, they are the one’s whom the Lord calls to receive His Word so that they can be a testimony of who He is.
In the Old Testament, it was Israel. In the New Testament we were added, grafted to that great olive tree of Israel.
Bless His Holy Name!
David continues in the same verse. The second “bless” he uses in the same verse and now to call upon His Holy Name.
I want to go back to Exodus, for in Exodus 3. The good Lord meets Moses in the burning bush. And Moses asks the Lord, Lord how would people believe me. Whom should I say sent me when I meet the people of Israel.
Let us read these two verses from Exodus 3.
Exodus 3:13 | Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
And this is what the good Lord responds.
Exodus 3:14 | And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.’”
Moses asks the Lord, God – what is Your Holy Name. That I may tell the people that It is You who have sent me. And the good Lord responds that I AM WHO I AM. Tell them it is I AM who sent you.
The word I AM –would mean, SELF EXISTING, ALWAYS EXISTING.
The Jews knew that “I AM” is LORD – YHWH.
And this is the name the good Lord used in John 8, and the Jews understood what this means.
Let us turn to the New Testament – John 8.
John 8:56 | “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
John 8:57 | Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
John 8:58 | Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
John 8:59 | Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
The good Lord picked up this name I AM and told the Jews that He is I AM, the self-existent God, the Always existing God. He is the One who spoke to Moses, who spoke to Abraham, and He was before them.
Since the Jews understood that they picked up the stones for they knew that the good Lord proclaimed that He is God, He is God Almighty.
Let us go to another New Testament verse to understand this further. Acts 9. Just like how the good Lord met Moses, the good Lord meets Saul who will be later called as Paul.
Acts 9:5 | And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
This verse is in parallel to the verse on how God spoke to Moses. To Moses, the Lord said I AM – I AM. The same Greek word is used here, but now the good Lord says I AM – Jesus.
The Name of God is progressively enlightened through the pages of Scripture.
And we, who are at the end of the ages, have now received the full understanding that YAH Saves – the name of God is Jesus Christ.
Verse 2
Psalm 103:2 | Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Now David continues his self-exhortation. He calls his soul to bless the Lord—to humble itself before the Lord—and to forget not all His benefits.
What are “Benefits”?
The word translated as benefits refers to His works. The gracious acts accomplished by His mighty hands.
When we humble ourself before the Lord, this Psalm becomes a cry to remember what He has already done in our lives.
We must continually call our souls to proclaim His blessings, because the natural man does not remember and does not seek the things of the Spirit.
In the verses that follow, Scripture will name the key works which we are commanded to remember.
Understand that these are the works of His hands.
You do not want to belittle them.
You do not want to forget them.
For these are blessings He has already provided.
Do not forget the most important work God has already done in your life.
Verse 3-5, the Blessings.
Psalm 103:3 | Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:4 | Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies
Psalm 103:5 | Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles
In the next 3 verses, David proclaims 6-7 blessings he has received from the Lord, and the same is applicable to us.
Rather than going through each one since we do not have the time for that. Let us understand clearly the blessings.
We understood that this is the work of His hands.
He has already completed it.
When God has already completed a work, can that work be lacking? It cannot. It is complete, full, there is nothing else to be done.
We need to understand that what Scripture is proclaiming here is not merely the blessings you have received in your physical life, but the things which God has accomplished by His own mighty hands for the things of the Spirit.
David is not simply counting the earthly blessings he has received in his physical life. David is crying out the blessings which he has received which will be with him for eternity.
For if you count your blessings of your house, your car, your job, your family, we need to understand that the same blessings are provided to everyone including the one’s who do not know the Lord. Jesus Christ said He feeds the sparrow, will He not feed us. He will, He knows what we need and He provides to everyone what they need.
These are blessings which are available only to His covenant people. People who have walked into His covenant, by His merciful grace.
What are the blessings David wants to remember?
- Forgiveness of our sins.
- Healing of our diseases.
- Redemption of our life from destruction.
- Crowning our life with lovingkindness and tender mercies.
- Satisfying our mouth with good things.
- Renewing our youth like the eagles.
The Covenant Blessings.
Forgiveness of sins.
In the time of David, he had to offer bulls and goats. But he knew that the Lord had promised mercies.
This is the greatest gift God provided us, that by His blood our sins were forgiven.
Sin keeps us from walking into the final rest with God, but now the promise of God is that He has already finished the work on the cross.
Forgiveness of sin is available to all who accept the free gift of salvation.
This is the most important blessing we need to remember. That God gave it all, so that we may be forgiven, justified, by His precious blood.
Healing of our diseases.
The understanding both in the Old Testament and the New Testament is the redemption of our souls. We are healed in our soul because of the gracious mercies of God who has delivered us from the corruption of sin.
Even if we are healed of our physical sickness today, understand that we still die. Lazarus was resurrected by the Lord, but he still had to die.
But when our sins our forgiven, and we are saved from the corruption of sin, we are healed by His mercies.
Redemption of our life from destruction.
We who have been forgiven of our sins – we are redeemed from destruction to live a life of holiness in expectation of the Holy One to come.
We are no more bondage in sin, we have the liberty in Christ to seek His Righteousness to live the life of the redeemed.
Scripture proclaims, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That is our life- our life will testify this great gift of redemption God has given us.
Crowning our life with lovingkindness and tender mercies.
This is the steadfast love God covers us when we are in His covenant. The promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
He is not waiting to condemn us when we stumble, But He is always working in us through our imperfections by His manifold mercies so that we may be perfected in Him, through His Word and through His Spirit.
Satisfying our mouth.
Proverbs proclaims in Proverbs 16:24, Proverbs 24:13-14 that God has satisfied our mouth by His Word which is sweet as honey in our mouth.
This is a blessing we have received today, that we could taste His goodness today, through His Word.
And this has been made available to us through His Spirit.
In the Old Testament, the saints were unable to approach the Most Holy Place, they can do that only once a year.
But today, we have the opportunity to enter into the Most Holy Place, and dwell in it, because of His Word, and His Grace, and His blood, and His Spirit.
This is the sweetness God has given us. It is sweet to our mouth, it satisfies our soul.
Renewing our youth like eagles.
This is the eternal promise God has given us, that when we believed in the Lord we moved away from eternal separation to eternal life.
God has already provided this to us for Scripture says – this is eternal life that we may know Him.
David knew the Lord, and hence writes this incredible messianic Psalm. David has a foretaste of eternity.
Likewise, we too have a foretaste of eternity as we seek the Lord, as we grow in His grace. Our physical self is getting old day by day nearing the grave. But our Spirit man is getting stronger and stronger waiting unto the day where we will be with the Lord.
As We Close
We begin this Psalm by hearing David speak to his own soul. This is our prayer, because our soul forgets. The natural man does not seek the things of the Spirit. Our heart drifts. Our memory dates. Our gratitude weakens.
So, we say not to forget what God has done. This is not earthly blessing. These are eternal blessings given to us by His finished work.
The covenant name of God has been revealed to us in its fullness. We bless Him, humbling ourselves, to preach to our own soul not to forget the finished work of the cross.
