Bless the Lord, Oh, My Soul! – Psalms 103-105

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #184 and today we’ll read Psalms 103-105 together.   Bless the Lord, oh, my soul!  Astounding!  

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Psalm 103

The Forgiving God

Of David.

My soul, bless the Lord,

and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

My soul, bless the Lord,

and do not forget all his benefits.

He forgives all your iniquity;

he heals all your diseases.

He redeems your life from the Pit;

he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.

He satisfies you with good things;

your youth is renewed like the eagle.

The Lord executes acts of righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

He revealed his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.

He will not always accuse us

or be angry forever.

He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his faithful love

toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed

our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

For he knows what we are made of,

remembering that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass —

he blooms like a flower of the field;

when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,

and its place is no longer known.

But from eternity to eternity

the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him,

and his righteousness toward the grandchildren

of those who keep his covenant,

who remember to observe his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

In All Places

Bless the Lord,

all his angels of great strength,

who do his word,

obedient to his command.

Bless the Lord, all his armies,

his servants who do his will.

Bless the Lord, all his works

in all the places where he rules.

My soul, bless the Lord!

Psalm 104

God the Creator

My soul, bless the Lord!

Lord my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with majesty and splendor.

He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe,

spreading out the sky like a canopy,

laying the beams of his palace

on the waters above,

making the clouds his chariot,

walking on the wings of the wind,

and making the winds his messengers,

flames of fire his servants.

He established the earth on its foundations;

it will never be shaken.

You covered it with the deep

as if it were a garment;

the water stood above the mountains.

At your rebuke the water fled;

at the sound of your thunder they hurried away —

mountains rose and valleys sank —

to the place you established for them.

You set a boundary they cannot cross;

they will never cover the earth again.

He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;

they flow between the mountains.

They supply water for every wild beast;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds of the sky live beside the springs;

they make their voices heard among the foliage.

He waters the mountains from his palace;

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of your labor.

God The Sustainer

He causes grass to grow for the livestock

and provides crops for man to cultivate,

producing food from the earth,

wine that makes human hearts glad —

making his face shine with oil —

and bread that sustains human hearts.

The trees of the Lord flourish,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

There the birds make their nests;

storks make their homes in the pine trees.

The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.

He made the moon to mark the festivals;

the sun knows when to set.

You bring darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the forest animals stir.

The young lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

The sun rises; they go back

and lie down in their dens.

Man goes out to his work

and to his labor until evening.

How countless are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

Here is the sea, vast and wide,

teeming with creatures beyond number —

living things both large and small.

There the ships move about,

and Leviathan, which you formed to play there.

All of them wait for you

to give them their food at the right time.

When you give it to them,

they gather it;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

When you send your breath,

they are created,

and you renew the surface of the ground.

I Will Rejoice in the Lord

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works.

He looks at the earth, and it trembles;

he touches the mountains,

and they pour out smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God while I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him;

I will rejoice in the Lord.

May sinners vanish from the earth

and wicked people be no more.

My soul, bless the Lord!

Hallelujah!

Psalm 105

God’s Faithfulness to His People

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

proclaim his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell about all his wondrous works!

Boast in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.

Remember the wondrous works he has done,

his wonders, and the judgments he has pronounced,

you offspring of Abraham his servant,

Jacob’s descendants — his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments govern the whole earth.

He remembers his covenant forever,

the promise he ordained

for a thousand generations —

the covenant he made with Abraham,

swore to Isaac,

and confirmed to Jacob as a decree

and to Israel as a permanent covenant:

“I will give the land of Canaan to you

as your inherited portion.”

When they were few in number,

very few indeed,

and resident aliens in Canaan,

wandering from nation to nation

and from one kingdom to another,

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their behalf:

“Do not touch my anointed ones,

or harm my prophets.”

He called down famine against the land

and destroyed the entire food supply.

He had sent a man ahead of them —

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

They hurt his feet with shackles;

his neck was put in an iron collar.

Until the time his prediction came true,

the word of the Lord tested him.

The king sent for him and released him;

the ruler of peoples set him free.

He made him master of his household,

ruler over all his possessions —

binding his officials at will

and instructing his elders.

He Led Them Out

Then Israel went to Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

The Lord made his people very fruitful;

he made them more numerous than their foes,

whose hearts he turned to hate his people

and to deal deceptively with his servants.

He sent Moses his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

They performed his miraculous signs among them

and wonders in the land of Ham.

He sent darkness, and it became dark —

for did they not defy his commands?

He turned their water into blood

and caused their fish to die.

Their land was overrun with frogs,

even in their royal chambers.

He spoke, and insects came —

gnats throughout their country.

He gave them hail for rain,

and lightning throughout their land.

He struck their vines and fig trees

and shattered the trees of their territory.

He spoke, and locusts came —

young locusts without number.

They devoured all the vegetation in their land

and consumed the produce of their land.

He struck all the firstborn in their land,

all their first progeny.

Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,

and no one among his tribes stumbled.

Egypt was glad when they left,

for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

He Gave Them the Land

He spread a cloud as a covering

and gave a fire to light up the night.

They asked, and he brought quail

and satisfied them with bread from heaven.

He opened a rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed like a stream in the desert.

For he remembered his holy promise

to Abraham his servant.

He brought his people out with rejoicing,

his chosen ones with shouts of joy.

He gave them the lands of the nations,

and they inherited

what other peoples had worked for.

All this happened

so that they might keep his statutes

and obey his instructions.

Hallelujah!

Close

Now here is where the Psalms become songs in our time.  Oh, I know.  This is not the first place.  But how can we not break into a chorus of Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me! Bless His Holy Name?  And look at Psalm 103.  There’s our contemplative, humble David!  I have been where he has been –   thinking about my own undeserved-ness and feeling so humbled, so unworthy.  It is then that my awe that God loves me crescendos.  Then that my praise comes from a place of such astonishment.  What was it Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15?  This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” —and I am the worst of them.  Just astonishing.  

Thank You, Lord, thank You.  Thank You for life, for Your provision, for Your love.  Amen and amen!

What is your prayer today?  Are you astonished at His love?  Let me know at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.