Praise the Lord, My Soul

by: Carole L. Haines

I took a short Sabbatical for Christmas and New Year’s, but now we are back to our look at

Psalm 103, Forget not all His Benefits

Let’s begin this New Year of 2022, by reading through Psalm 103 one more time before we begin to look at its deeper nuances.

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 
2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 
4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 
5 who satisfies your desires with good things  
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 
⁶ The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel: 
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. 
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve 
    or repay us according to our iniquities. 
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 
    so great is his love for those who fear him. 
12 as far as the east is from the west,  
so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, 
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 
14 For He knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust. 
15 The life of mortals is like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field. 
16 The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 
17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, 
    and his righteousness with their children’s children— 
18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. 

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. 

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones  

who do his bidding, who obey his word. 
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 
22 Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. 

Praise the Lord, my soul. 

Just to give a taste of where we are going with this beautiful Psalm of David, let’s look at what our Soul actually means. We are given a glimpse into the truth that we are made up of three parts: spirit, soul and body, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will begin tomorrow by looking at the distinctive attributes of each of these parts. Meanwhile. Welcome to 2022. May we grow ever closer to Jesus together in this New Year.