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Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord 2014.9.7 Paul Oh ■ Psalm 103: 1-22 ■ Key Verse: Psalm 103: 2 "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Tomorrow is Chuseok, a Korean thanksgiving day. We should give thanks to God, remembering his love, his grace and his blessings. To give thanks to God is an expression of a mature faith and to praise the Lord is an expression of thanks. God is pleased with our praise and thanks and He works mightily for those who have thankful hearts. The Holy Spirit works powerfully among the people who praise and give thanks to the Lord. To praise and give thanks to God is a secret to winning the spiritual battle. In Psalm 103, David did not forget all benefits that God bestowed him and he gave thanks to the Lord and praised Him with whole heart. I pray that all of us may remember all benefits God has given us this year to praise God with all our heart. I. All benefits of God (1-5) 1. Do not forget his benefits (1-2) In this chapter 103, the first and last verses are the same: Praise the Lord, my soul. David praised God, remembering all blessings and benefits he received from God. Let’s think about “Praise the Lord, my soul.” What does it mean, to ‘Praise’? Who should praise? And why should we praise God? First, what does it mean to praise? The words "Barak" or “hd:y:(야다)” in Hebrew mean “to kneel down, to respect, to give thanks, to bless, and to glorify. ‘Praise the Lord’ means to accept God as Creator, source of life and the Lord of salvation. In other word, it means that we humans, creatures, should not forget God, the Creator and we should give thanks to God, glorifying Him. The expression of grateful heart is ‘praise’. The essence of praise is thanks. The praise comes from a grateful heart. Without a thankful heart, we cannot praise God. We cannot be thankful without a true joy. ‘Praise the Lord’ means to believe that God is involved in everything that happens in the world around me and in my life and no doubt about a good will of God. ‘Praise the Lord’ means to accept God’s sovereignty and his sovereign power. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 say, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” In Ephesians 1:3, Apostle Paul said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” In 1 Peter 1:3, Apostle Peter said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” In Ephesians 5:19-20, Paul described a person filled with the Spirit, saying “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” People filled with the Holy Spirit always praise the Lord and give thanks to Him. Second, who should praise and how? Let’s read together v1. “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” Praise, ‘my soul’, ‘all my inmost being’ means praise God with all my life and all my heart including my reason, my emotion, my will and my strength. God sees our heart. So in relation with God, our whole heart is required. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 10:12 says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” David praised God with all his heart. God was pleased with David and loved him. I pray that each one of us may love God, serve God and praise God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength. Third, why do we praise the Lord? This is because God has bestowed us all His benefits. Let’s read v2. "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Here benefits are a bit more specific than the grace we receive from God and these benefits are the real benefits which we enjoy in our real life. Other biblical versions describe the benefits as the glorious things he does for me (Living Bible), all his good deeds (Contemporary English Version), his kindness (Expanded Bible), and all his gifts (New American Bible). Why this verse did not say, ‘remember his benefits’ but did say ‘forget not all his benefits’? This is because we always forget the benefits bestowed by God to us. We easily forget the grace and love and blessings given by God. But we remember our wounds, regrets, and sadness and so on. David did not forget all benefits bestowed by God who called him, a shepherd boy and lifted him up as a king of Israel. David had cherished these benefits for all his life and gave thanks to God and praised Him with all his heart. When we always forget all benefits given by God, we are getting sick spiritually. The people of Israel were filled with great joy and thanks, when they made exodus from Egypt by mighty hand of God. They gave thanks to God and praised God, dancing and singing. However, when they entered the desert, they began to complain to God and Moses. When they forgot the glorious things God had done for them, they became weak and powerless. They could not do anything but complaining. All of them died in the desert by the punishment of God. Romans 1:21 says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” A no thankful heart is a root of all sins. When we do not give thanks to the Lord, we make God sad, we make ourselves miserable and ruin our Christian community, causing problems and troubles. God is not pleased with those who have not thankful hearts. We should remember benefits received from God and always give thanks to God, praising Him in our life. What are the benefits that God bestowed us? What God has done for each one of us? And why do we give thanks to God and praise Him? 2. The benefits God has bestowed (3-5) First, we should praise God because he forgives all our sins. Look at v3. “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” God does not forgive some part of our sins, but forgives all our sins. A human being continues to sin and even we Christians continue to sin without knowing. We human beings cannot live without forgiveness of sins. If we do not receive forgiveness of our sins from God, we lose ourselves and lose our happiness and our human relationship is broken. Moreover, we would be crazy and die miserably. However, when we repent of our sins and come back to God, God surely forgives all our sins. God is a forgiving God. God forgave all our sins by precious blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. And God called each one of us to serve his kingdom. We realize that this year too we have committed many sins because of our pride, easy-going life and especially, unbelief among others. So many times we have not served a campus mission faithfully and we have lived a self-centered life. However, each time when we come to God and repent of our sins, God forgives all our sins. I praise a forgiving God! Second, we should praise God because He heals all our diseases. God heals our physical diseases, our mental diseases and our spiritual diseases. The spiritual diseases are most serious ones. This disease is a terrible disease which does not know God. Although they know God, they neither glorify him as God nor give thanks to him. This is a fatal disease. Nobody cannot cure it, but only God heals all our diseases. We thank God! Third, we should praise God because God redeems our life from the pit and crowns us with love and compassion. Let’s read v4. “Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.” Here the word “pit” means destruction. In the course of our life, we are in danger of falling into the pit. Many had fallen into the pit, but God saved us from the eternal destruction as well as crisis and danger. Furthermore, God crowns us with love and compassion. God understands us well and has great compassion for us. We praise God of love and compassion! Fourth, we should praise God because He satisfies our desires with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. God knows our needs and answers our prayer. Moreover, God satisfies our desires with better things, that is, the word of God. Only the word of God can satisfy our soul and quench our spiritual thirst. God’s word is a lamp for our feet, a light on our path. God satisfies our desires with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The eagle is a symbol of power and eternal youth. When an eagle grows old, they fly high up into the high places and they lose all the feathers. They stay there until their feather grow back. They become renewed! Eagles do not fly like other small birds, flapping their wings profusely and using their own strength. Instead, eagles SOAR through the sky. The eagle rides the wind and circle higher and higher toward the sky, without effort. She just spreads their wings and the wind carries the eagle soaring through the sky. If the eagle encounters a storm, they set their wings and fly directly toward the storm. The velocity of the wind lifts them safely above the storm. This is what the Scriptures means when it says that believers mount up with wings as eagles. God will lift us up above the storms and cares of this world, and lift us above all the problems and attacks of the enemy by the power of the Spirit of God. Like eagles, we should learn to ride on the current of the Holy Spirit, instead of relying on our own strength. A prophet Isaiah confessed “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”(Isaiah 40:30-31) We should remember the good deeds God has done for each one of us and give thanks to God. We have to praise the Lord in the actual circumstances whether we are in happiness or sadness, in better situation or worse situation, even though we do not understand the difficulty. We should praise God, believing that God has a perfect wonderful plan for each one of us. We should not praise Him, anticipating some future results. When we love and praise God with pure heart, God will change us and change His flock of sheep and the situation with his power. We have to change our way of thinking and our life style in order to give thanks and praise God. A praise and prayer is the best way to communicate with God and to experience the power of God. Let’s think about the power of praise. A vast army of the Moabites and Ammonites invaded Judah. Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah, prayed to God and God answered him, saying “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. God made the enemies destroy one another (1 Chronicles 20:15, 21-22) Apostle Paul and Silas traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. When they preached the gospel, they were arrested. And they were severely flogged, beaten and put into the prison. In the prison, they did not complain, but they prayed and sang hymns to God, suddenly there was a violent earthquake. At once all prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:25-26) We should praise God especially when we are in difficulty. When we praise God, we win the spiritual battle. Hebrews 13 says “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” When we give thanks and praise God continually, we can establish a firm relationship of love with God and we can live a healthy life full of joy and happiness. We should give thanks to our coworkers and encourage one another among coworkers in our church. II. Benevolence of God (6-22) Who is God who bestows us wonderful benefits? First, God works righteousness and justice for all oppressed (6-7). God gave a book of Moses, teaching a just and righteous way. God showed his mighty works to the people of Israel. God continues to work for redemption of all human beings. Second, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (8). God does not always rebuke, but sometimes scolds his people so that they may not commit sins in their heart. However, when his people repent of their sins, God finishes his reproach and has mercy on those who fear Him, because he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust (14). Third, God’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children from everlasting to everlasting (17). Let’s read v15, 16. “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Fourth, the Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all (19). God deserves adoration and praise from all his creatures and his angels (19-22). Praise the Lord, you his angels, Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts! Praise the Lord, my soul! Conclusion: God, our heavenly Father, saved our life from the pit of sins: sexual lust, greed, hatred, complacency, and arrogance, and so on. And God crowns us with love and compassion. God has raised us from useless sinners to be bible teachers, shepherds and missionaries for campus mission. He made us his coworkers in the history of salvation! In this dark and corrupt world, God has chosen us, trained us and uses us for wandering souls and for expanding His kingdom. I praise the Lord! We thank God for giving us challenges and hardships to make us stronger. How can we return God’s so many blessings? We should serve God’s ministry with our whole heart, feeding God’s flock of sheep. I pray that each one of us may feed one foreign student with the word of God. We should give thanks to God and praise Him with our whole heart. I pray that your life may be full of praise and thanks, not forgetting all blessings you received from God. Amen! |
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