PRAISE THE LORD

Psalm 103:1-23

Key Verse 103:1

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Happy thanksgiving! Each time the thanksgiving season comes around, one question that comes to mind is: “For what should I give thanks to God this year? For the turkey or for the cheesecake mom is going to cook and put out on the thanksgiving table? Or for my dog Mike or for my cat Misty?” Of course, we can give thanks to the Lord for all these. 

In Psalm 103, however, King David goes a lot deeper in giving thanks to the Lord. So let us come and listen to King David, so that we would have a truly meaningful thanksgiving. 

Like all other scriptures Psalm 103 is deep, wide, broad, and high in dimension. There one can find numerous thanks topics, even 103 of them, and much more. For our own purpose, however, we would like to think about seven categories of thanks topics. 

First, we can be truly thankful to God for his holy name.

Verse 1 reads, “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”  Here King David employs his soul and all his inmost being to praise the Lord’s holy name. This indicates that the Lord designed man’s soul and his inmost being in such a way that man is capable of knowing the Lord and praising the Lord’s holy name. This verse even alludes to the fact that God created us with the specific purpose to praise his name. It then teaches us that we are to praise God’s holy name from the bottom of our soul, employing all the faculties of our personality – our body, mind, heart, and spirit, and mobilizing all of our strength, skills, talents, imagination, insight, intuition, inspiration and much more for this purpose. 

Most importantly, the psalmist exhorts us to praise the Lord first and foremost for the holiness of his name. “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” (1) His holy name! This is the first and most important praise topic, for it goes to the meaning and purpose of our existence as a human being. 

Let us stop for a moment and think about the meaning of “his holy name.” The word “holy” here denotes God’s distinct character which is unique to God and God alone. Consistent with this truth, Bible scholars commonly say that the word “holy” means “set apart” and God is “set apart” from all his creation in that he alone is the Creator. Characteristically, the word “holy” refers to God’s perfection, especially in a moral and spiritual sense, just as Jesus says in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” “Name” refers to one’s essence or attributes. 

The call to praise God’s holy name indicates that we are to praise him for who he is. There is no one like him, for he alone is truly and infinitely great. He is the ideal of all ideals. He is our true model; he is our true hero. He is the one we are to copy in every way conceivable. 

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” (1) Practically praising the Lord for his holy name is the key for us to grow to his infinite greatness. We are most joyful when we grow to his greatness. And we grow up to his greatness when we think about his holy name and struggle to copy his example. 

The Thursday November 11, 2004, San Francisco Chronicler carried a news report saying, “Iris Chang, the prominent Chinese American author and journalist who fueled an international protest movement against Japan with her incendiary best-selling book, The Rape of Nanking, was found dead from an apparent self- inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Wednesday. Chang, 36, of San Jose was found in her car by a commuter about 9 a.m. Tuesday on a rural road south of Los Gatos, according to the Santa Clara County sheriff's office.” This week’s Time magazine also carried a note on her death saying, “Died, Iris Chang, 36, historian whose landmark 1997 best seller The Rape of Nanking; The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II chronicled the grisly rape, torture, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former Chinese capital in the late 1930s; a suicide… Chang, whose book was the first full-length nonfiction account of the brutality, said, ‘I didn’t care if I made a cent from it. I wrote it out of a sense of rage.’ She was hospitalized for depression earlier this year as she was researching her fourth book on U.S. soldiers imprisoned by the Japanese.” These reports gave rise to a question: “Why did she die at such a young age?” Of course the authorities say that she shot herself in the head. It was a suicide. But why did she die that way? Well, perhaps unless you have lived in her shoes for a sufficiently long period of time, it might be difficult to tell the real cause of her suicide. But, on reading these articles, my first impression is this: she thought about what is negative way too much. It is said, “You are what you think.” Similarly, we can say, “You are what you praise.” In verse 1, King David says that we are to think about God’s holy name. He exhorts us to not just think about God’s holy name but also praise God’s name. And we need to call on our soul and on all our inmost being to praise the Lord for his holy name. 

Once upon a time, Jesus rebuked his top disciple Simon Peter saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You do not have things of God, but things of men.” Satan tempts us to think about the things of men. But Jesus commands us to have in our minds the things of God. Why? The answer is obvious. God alone is perfect. And no man is perfect. All men are sinners. (And there are only two kinds of people: forgiven sinners and unforgiven sinners. But both are sinners. So we have only one kind of people: sinners.)  So if you think about men (such as what she did to me today or what he said about me yesterday during a group Bible study etc. and so forth), you are bound to be depressed. 

You know, when you think about it, if anyone is going to be depressed, Jesus is the first person who should have been depressed the most. He could have seen his heart burst open in a rage. But Jesus did not get depressed. He was joyful even as he was heading to the Mt. Gethsemane, where he knew that he would be kissed by one of his most trusted disciples, arrested, and then crucified. Why was he joyful even in such a dire circumstance? It is only because at every moment of his life, Jesus always had in mind the things of God. He truly practiced what King David says in verse 1, “Praise the Lord O my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” And this is the first and the most important point for us to remember in having a truly thankful and meaningful thanksgiving this year and beyond. 

Second, we can be truly thankful to God for His benefits. 

Practically, however, we humbly admit that it is not easy for us to give thanks to God and praise his name from the bottom of our hearts. However, again, I am emboldened to say that God never asks his children to do anything without first providing them with the means to do what they are asked to do. 

What did the Lord God do for us? How can we be empowered to praise his name as powerfully as we should? Look at verses 2-5. “² Praise the LORD, O 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.” 

The answer is found in the two words: “Forget Not”. These two words remind us that a lot of things are true of us. First of all, they indicate that we so easily forget the grace of his sin-forgiveness. We also forget or simply ignore or do not remember the fact that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and redeem us from all the ill effects of our sins. But more fundamentally than these, we are reminded that we do not fully take advantage of all the benefits the Lord God has already made available in the Lord. And my emphasis is on the word “all”. What does “all” mean? All means all. The bottom line is this: if we do not remember and fully appreciate, and fully incorporate into our lives (our bones and blood, our minds, hearts, souls and spirits, to the inmost sanctum of our existence) “all his benefits” found in the Lord, we already run the risk of not being able to praise the Lord as fully as we should.

Remember that to have a good benefit in the Lord is one thing, to actually receive it another, and to incorporate it into our life and fully enjoy it is still another. And the command, “Forget not” has the meaning of remembering all of them, going for all of them and turning them into realities by faith in God’s total goodness!  

I have a cell phone made by Lucky Gumsung. The menu consists of: camera, contacts, recent calls, messages, get it now, mobile web, and my media. If I select any of these functions many different functions pop out on the screen. Then if I select one function on the screen, it leads me to other sub categories. This cell phone is really cool, for it has so many different functions. But I am very afraid that I will get lost in it. And I hate to get sucked into the maze of a tiny cell phone, and get lost. So although I have owned this phone for about six months, I have been using only easy features such as voice activated calling. But when you think about it, it is alright for me not to fully take advantage of all the good features this cell phone offers. It is not a big deal. Why? It is just a cell phone. And I can be perfectly happy (or even happier) without it. 

But it is not so with “all the benefits” we have in the Lord. Why? God has made these benefits available to his children, because he knows that his children need every one of them for their perfect happiness. If you miss any of them, you are not as happy as you are supposed to be. With this in mind, let us read verses 2-5 once again. “² Praise the LORD , O 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.” Here the word “all” is repeated three times: forget not all his benefits, [forgives] all your sins; and [heals] all your diseases. In addition, two words are plural – desires and things: “[who] satisfies your desires”; and “with good things.” 

Again the benefits consist of forgiveness resulting in healing, redemption resulting in crowning, and satisfaction resulting in renewing. Each of these represents a huge category. God made man to be as great as the universe. It has been said, “God created two universes: the universe outside and the universe inside.” Our inner person is deep and vast. And we need to remember that God sent Jesus to make us to be as wholesome as Jesus is. The wholesomeness of Jesus is the goal God has for us. I know none of us has reached this level. But at least during the thanksgiving season, we can start praising God’s name for making all these benefits available in the Lord.

Third, we can be truly thankful to God for his work. 

Look at verse 6. “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.” This verse offers good news for all the oppressed. Modern society has made man’s life a lot easier and more comfortable than ancient societies. Yet an increasing trend is that an increasing number of people are getting more oppressed and then depressed. Despite technological advancement, more people are suffering from such problems as addictive behaviors, alcohol or drug problem, anger problems, anxiety, panic or phobias, attention deficit, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, insomnia, addiction to pornography, obsessive compulsive behaviors, low-self esteem, and hallucinations. 

But the good news is that the Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. King David uses the word “works” in the present tense. This indicates that giving a release to all who are oppressed is the Lord’s on-going work. Speaking of the same truth, when Jesus came he invited people saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) King David experienced a deep release from any hint of oppression (mentally, spiritually, or otherwise) in the Lord, and says in Psalm 27:3-5, “Though an army besieges me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” And most of you know what David said in Psalm 23. The third key for true thanksgiving then is for us to remember the Lord’s on-going work. In order to avail ourselves to the rest found in the Lord, we must daily come to the Lord and have him guide us to his peace and rest as he did for King David. One good way to come to the Lord and experience his healing touch is to do the Daily Bread during the early morning hours. 

Fourth, we can be truly thankful to God for his revelation. 

Look at verse 7. ^“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:”

In the course of serving the Lord, Moses came to know the Lord little by little. On many occasions, the Lord God revealed himself through his own initiative and sometimes through Moses taking an initiative. In Exodus 3, for example, while Moses was feeding sheep in a desert area, the Lord God visited him and revealed himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then, as Moses started serving the Lord, Moses realized that he did not know the Lord as much as he should. So in Exodus 33, he asked the Lord, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways, so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” (Exodus 33:13a) The Lord waited for Moses to make this kind of request. Then in Exodus 34 the Lord revealed himself further. 

Ultimately however the Lord God revealed himself more fully in the life of Jesus. Through his words and actions, the Lord God revealed not only his ways but also his deeds. 

This revelation, which is made visible in the life of Jesus, is a huge thanks topic for all of us. 

But for us, the real homework is to struggle to know Jesus better daily, because the more we struggle to know Jesus better the greater joy the Lord gives us. The Apostle Paul set a good example in struggling to know Jesus better. For now, we have no time to talk about all the details of the struggles the Apostle Paul made to know Jesus. Maybe it is sufficient for our own purpose here to point out that reading the book of Philippians will give us a clear idea of what it is to struggle to know Jesus. This book (Philippians) is called the book of joy. There the Apostle Paul expresses the idea that struggling to know Jesus in all practical terms (particularly participating in his sufferings and serving his purpose) is the source of unfathomably great joy. So reading Philippians is one of the great ways to keep thanksgiving in a meaningful way.

Fifth, we can be truly thankful to God for his love.

Here, King David shares a thanks topic for which we can praise God’s name, despite the seemingly harsh realties we have in this world. Let us read verses 8-18 responsively. In this passage, David mainly talks about God’s love which enables us to overcome the limitations we have as we live in a physical body. 

When fall season comes, we suddenly become kind of philosophical: trees turn to fall colors. Then leaves start falling. Yesterday it rained cats and dogs. Then the morning air grew chilly. In my backyard, I could see more leaves are falling. Then as we look at the trees getting naked, we start thinking about the transient nature of our life here in a physical body. As we admit that we are “mortal”, we sort of become melancholy. 

In yesterday’s daily bread Moses also shared the same sad emotions. He said in Psalm 90, “You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-
though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered….The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” 

Moses lived to be 120 years young. Even when he became 120 his strength still did not diminish. Yet, he found that man’s life here in a physical body is as short as the blinking of an eye. 

Like Moses, King David also found a complete relief from this fleeting nature of our life here on earth: that is, God’s everlasting love for those who fear the Lord and obey his precepts. Here the word “fear” is very important. Why should we fear the Lord? The reason is simple: we fear the Lord for he alone is the judge of both the living and the dead. He alone can even destroy our souls. Most blessedly, he sent Jesus to die for our sins and secure a permanent position for all who put trust in his merit. And this is a great thanks topic for all who believe in the Lord.

Sixth, we can be thankful to God for his rule.

Look at verse 19. “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” Here, King David used the word “over”. One of the meanings of this is that God’s kingdom is superior to all domains. God is supreme. He is the sovereign Ruler. 

When we accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior, God practically establishes his rule within us. Once he establishes his rule, we are eternally secure. This rule built inside of us provides us with the deep sense of security. Then no matter what happens, we always feel secure and indeed we ARE secure. 

Seventh, we can be thankful to God for his bidding.

Lastly let us read verses 20-22. Here, we find the expressions “do his bidding,” “obey his word,” and, “in his dominion.” These expressions have one thing in common, that is, it is when we believe in Jesus and obey his command that we can be truly thankful to the Lord. From this we learn that obeying his command is not a burden but a blessing. We pray to obey the Lord’s world mission command. We pray for Bible America and world campus mission. We choose to commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus’ world mission command for we know that this bidding for world mission makes our lives truly dynamic and full of thanks.

One word: Praise the Lord

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