It's easy in times of blessing to forget the blessing. It's a little bit counterintuitive. You'd think that those who are experiencing the blessing would be in the position to see it best. But we forget oh so quickly. How many of you woke up this morning thankful you didn't have a headache. It's a blessing to not have a headache and if you've had a headache recently, you probably were thankful. But if it's been a while it's easy to forget what it would be like to have a headache and how nice it is to be pain free in that way. God tells us over and over that it is good for us to remember and meditate on our blessings. There is a huge theme in the Psalms of meditating on the blessings of God in our lives. There's actually two ways we see this in the Psalms, it's encouraged both negatively and positively. In several of the Psalms we are reminded, very negatively, of a nation who chose not to meditate on the blessing of God. And we
are told to remember the non-remembering. In Psalm 106 we see example of this sort of negative reminder. Notice the usage of the plural we. This is the Psalmist who is lumping himself in with the wickedness of ancient Israel. He says both of us have sinned in the same way. So what's the sin he's talking about?
The sin is that they did not CONSIDER God's wondrous works. They did not REMEMBER the abundance of His steadfast love. That's the sin. A sin that Israel committed and that we can just as easily commit. That's a big deal in God's mind to not remember and consider His steadfast love and mercy and grace. Well, today we want to learn from Israel and do the opposite of that. Today we want to both consider and remember what God has done for us personally, corporately and give him praise. And our text that will help us in this regard is Psalm 103. Psalm 103-106 are all Psalms that begin and end with some version of Bless the Lord, O my soul. These are really Psalms of Meditation on different aspects of the character of God. This particular text is really a celebration of the mercy of God. So let's take a look at how the Psalm opens up.
Not I want to begin by pointing out the genre we are in. Some Psalms are Psalms of prayers. Some Psalms are Psalms of praise, but this is a Psalm of meditation.
How do we know that? Well, notice who is being addressed. Who is the Psalmist talking to? Himself! Bless the Lord, O my soul. He is talking to his own soul. Matt Fearey addressed us from Psalm 42 a few weeks ago in his message about the importance of preaching to yourself. He basically gave a biblical defense of schizophrenia. This is a sanctioned selftalk. Whenever you see this in the Bible you are in the genre of meditation. In Bible study the object is the Bible, in prayer the object is God, but in meditation the object is yourself. You re taking to yourself about what you know is true and you are working it into your mind and your experience and your unique situation. That's what the Psalmist is doing here. He's connecting this truth about this merciful God and he's working it into his mind, into his emotions, into his will, into his affections, he's working into "all that is within me." And you can see him doing that with a sort of mental laundry list. Okay, let me think about the benefits I have received from God. Let's forget not his benefits. Let's think about his forgiveness of sin. Let's think about his redemption and healing. The essence of meditation is taking some truth you know cognitively and saying, I m going to really think about what that means. I m
going to bring it both into my emotional and volitional life, into my heart and into my will. If it hasn't reached the emotions, you haven't meditated. If it doesn't change the way you make decisions, you haven't meditated. You have to really think this through. What are the implications of this? How am I currently living inconsistently? What are the family implications here? What are the work implications? What relationships need to change because of this? Let's think about it this way. Imagine you had special insider information that tomorrow the stock market would jump 20%. That's just a piece of information. You could answer correctly on a test whose question it was, "How much will the stock market change tomorrow." But there's no meditation in that. Meditating on that means you would think through all the possible ways that could effect you. What would that mean for your investments? Should you do some transferring of funds? What kinds of things have you been saving for that all of the sudden you find yourself in a position to purchase? Many of us approach God like we are simply curators of information. We collect all this information about God and put it on display in a museum like some artifact from the cold war. Isn't this interesting. Describe God: I will now commence filling in the scantron bubble form with my number 2 pencil and a backup in case this one breaks.
God is sovereign God is loving God is creator. God is judge. And we ace the test and think we've got the whole point as if getting those facts correct is the point. We somehow manage to totally disconnected them from the reality in which we live. We want truth to not just know that truth but to have that truth become part of us. I like to think about meditation as spiritual digestion. You know you look at a banana sitting in your cupboard. And you say, there's a banana. You've correctly identified but it can't help you sitting there on the shelf. It's not part of you until you eat it. In order for that to be helpful to you, you have to eat it. You have to mash it up in your mouth and that breaks it into smaller pieces. But that's just starting. Then it slowly travels through your stomach and intestines and slowly breaks it apart and takes it to the parts of the body that need it. It combines it with other things to make new things your body needs. And eventually it's all through you in ways you could never reassemble or trace how that banana helped you. It has literally become you. That is is exactly how meditation works. We don't want to be theologians who are proud of how full our pantries are. Perfectly labeled. Perfectly organized. Yep. There's the sovereignty of God. There's the omniscience of God. But it hasn't become part of you. It hasn't helped you. Now Psalm 103, is us peeking over the shoulder of the Psalmist as he digests the Mercy of God.
Man God is merciful! I don't want to forget all his benefits. He forgives sin. He redeems me from the pit He heals me. He crowns me with love and mercy He satisfies me with good. He's going to do what God wants us to do and remember and consider and digest the mercies of God in our life. So this first section is kind of introduction big picture to theme of mercy. But now he's going to narrow in on a few aspects of Mercy. So he's going to try to describe what mercy looks like.
He's describing the character of Mercy, what mercy does. He says, you want to know what Mercy is? Mercy is acting for the oppressed. Look at Israel. Israel was oppressed. They were nobodies. Nobody cares for nobodies. You want to know who the nobodies are right now? Nobody knows because they are nobodies. If their cause becomes known on Facebook or the media or the stories get shared, well they have become somebody. But nobodies are unknown. They suffer alone. They are treated unfairly and they don't have the social standing or the education or the relational leverage to do anything about it. They are marginalized and nobody cares. They are oppressed and nobody sees or reaches out or initiates. But the character of Mercy is that he notices the nobodies and acts for them. Mercy Initiates.
He looks at God and says, I praise you for your initiating work with mankind. The Lord "works" righteousness and justice. He initiated and broke in. He "made known" his ways to Moses. So He INITIATED. But this initiating mercy opens up a can of worms. God are you sure you want to get involved with those people? That's going to require a lot of work. Are you sure you want to take on all those associated problems? You can just give and go. Your getting involved with stubborn, stiff-necked rebellious people! Mercy says, yes I know exactly what I'm getting invovled with. I see what it requires and I am willing. And then we just see Mercy begins to unfold like a flower. The Character of Mercy
Look at this! Gracious Slow to Anger Abounding in Steadfast Love Does not Chide Does not Keep Anger Does not deal with us according to our sins. Does not repay us according to our inequities. As far as East is from the West he removes our transgressions. When God initiates with us, it means he's going to have to deal with a people that really needs some help! Mercy is the nuclear core of the character of God. We all have things that we are deeply ashamed of. We all have things that if they were drug out into the light we would feel so, so ashamed. We all have things that we are terrified of people discovering. We would feel so expose and so naked if they were uncovered. In fact, nakedness is a helpful metaphor for what we are talking about here. We put on clothes to hide our bodies. Why? Animals don't do this. Why do we? We let out little pieces. Our head here. Our arm here. But most of our body is covered because we are too scared to be vulnerable before all people. We are not comfortable with people seeing who we really are. Adam and Eve could stand naked before God because they were both perfect and accepted. But sin destroyed that. And physical clothing became a metaphor for what happened on a spiritual level. You see, we all have things that are hidden beneath our external appearance here on Sunday morning that we are deeply ashamed of. You come into this building dressed up on the outside but also on
the inside. You don't dare come in with the behavioral clothes you wear the rest of the week. The way you yelled at your kids this last week. The way you fought and cut and slashed at your spouse with your words. The way you stared at that image on the computer. Just take whatever you have done in private behind clothes doors and drag it into the light. Take whatever thought you had and drag it into the light. Take how you related with that person in secret and drag it into the light We all have things, which if revealed, would pull out deep feeling of shame, regret, sorrow, guilt. We are so scared of what would happen when all that is revealed. You know what the Psalmist is praising God for? He's praising God for the way in which he deals with his children when it is revealed. I think of the terror and shame it must have been for Adam and Eve to stand before God after they had sinned. Here they are with this goofy little leaf skirt they tried to make. And they are all ashamed and embarrassed. Isn't that how it feels to come to terms with your sin before God. Don't you feel just like that. There isn't enough material to cover up and he's just standing there staring out you. It's those eyes, those burning eyes that just see right into you and through you. It's like the leaves aren't even there and you wish you could just disappear into the belly of a whale or something. He sees it all. I'm exposed. What is going to happen? The character of God is not to fly off the handle when we blow it for the hundredth time. I told you and look at how you spurn me! He is
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. Mercy and grace are constantly covering our offenses. The ESV says, "He will not always chide nor will he keep his anger forever." This phrase, I think is introducing what comes next. He's about to say, "He's going to remove your sin as far as the E is from the W." But there is a period in which your sin needs to be made known. It doesn't say he does not chide you period. It just says, he will not always chide. It does not say that there is no anger. The anger is there it's just not forever. What does it mean to chide and be angry. I looked up all the usages of that Hebrew word and it's interesting because most of the time it's translated, "Plead the cause" or content for me. Job is saying, "Who will plead my cause." Who will make an argument on my behalf that I am innocent. In Chronicles Joash breaks down the alter of Baal and says anyone who contends for Baal (pleads his cause) will be put to death. So that's the idea. Well, when it comes to sin, God is going to plead his own cause. He's going to make an argument for why he's angry. He's going to make a case against you to show you something you can't see. He's going to explain to you the offense. We need that confrontation. We need to see that we have upset divinity. We are almost always unaware and ignorant. We never see the full extent and severity and seriousness of our sin. Have you ever been carrying a long pole over your shoulder and you turn and smash something behind you without realizing it. That's how we as sinners often operate in the world. We walk around and smash things all the time. We grab onto sin not realizing that sin has
a ten foot long consequence sticking out behind us. And we walk around and turn corners and scrape the China off the shelves behind us and we don't even realize it. And God points that out. Stop. You're wrecking the China. Stop! He chides us. But that part lasts only as long as is needed to point out the offense. The chiding doesn't last forever. The anger doesn't last forever. We hold offenses over people forever but not God. Forgiveness is ready and waiting. God is right there ready to remove the sin! Aren't you glad you are not repaid according to your iniquities. Can you imagine if you were to see the accusation that comes out of God's mouth against you. Oh how shamed you would be. Oh how terribly shamed you would be. You would curl into a ball and collapse. What punishment would you give yourself for that kind of offense? But he does not pay us according to our iniquities. As far as the E is from the W. He eliminates it. He ends it. He crushes it. It's over. All that guilt. All that shame. Gone. Forgiven. done. We are forgiven. And we are told how God thinks of us in that forgiveness. This is staggering.
How does God think about these sinful creatures who are in need of so much help and forgiveness. What comes here is at the same time both surprising and comforting. I have such an appreciation for this phrase, "as a father shows
compassion to his children." With my older kids, I tended to be angry with them when they disobeyed because I was immature and I took it personally. Of course I still get angry, but I think more my response now is compassion. Kaylia has always struggled sneaking little treats. And I remember spying on her from around the corner and saw a plate of cookies and I was so hoping she would resist and obey. I was just so ready to praise her and then she reached up and snatched the cookie. And this feeling of compassion just welled up within me. Man, it's so hard to grow up. The temptations are so strong. This poor little thing. She's only lived five years. She probably can only remember 3 of them. That's not very much time to change. She has so little life experience. She has such a such a small perspective. Man, it stinks to have to be kid and have to learn all these lessons. It's so hard when you just want so badly to do something you shouldn't. It's no fun to be on the receiving end of the discipline that was about to administer. It didn't change the consequence. It didn't change her culpability and responsibility. But doesn't it sure change the feel? How does that Lord look at all that sin? Like a compassionate father that sees the weakness of his child. So easily yanked away. So foolish. So in need of help.
That's how God looks at your sin. And he wants to help. His steadfast love of the Lord. I love this truth! God is not just a king, not just a shepherd, but he s a father. Now let's meditate on that! Why is it great that he s a father? Meditate on this. Give me 5 reasons why that's good. Because father's love their children when they fail. Because father's can understand the weakness of their children. A father knows what's best for his children and can be trusted. Because father's discipline their children out of love. Now look! That naturally leads to praise. Isn't it a wonderful thought to know that God looks at you like that. He's not lashing out in anger. He's not yelling and screaming and coming off the handle at you when you disobey. He's a compassionate father who is bent on helping you. One of the reasons we are told that God has compassions on us is because we are so temporal! God looks on us and says, "Oh the frailty of man. He is so weak. So fraught with problems." Look at how we as frail human are described. Like dust! You just blow it and it flies away. It has no substance. It can't resist any force. It is at the pure mercy of all the forces around it. Let's just continually remember and remember and remember how weak we are. So good for us. And not only is he weak. He is so temporal. He's like grass and a
wildflower that bursts onto the scene for a second and then disappears. One of my favorite sights in the spring is rolling over the hills toward horseshoe bend in May and the hills are just exploding in green grass and wildflowers. It's so beautiful. It looks like you just landed in Ireland or something. It's really unbelievable. If I had property to sell in Horseshoe bend, I know what month I'd take a picture! But its so short. It's a month and a half. When July and August rolls around it's just scorched earth. Dead grass. No life. Heat. Withered. And God uses that picture to talk about us in time. We are powerless (like dust) and mortal (like a flower). Now what emotional reaction does that cause in God. It's easy to look at something weaker than you and have the feeling of superiority. But God looks at these frail creatures and feels compassion. Wow. In contrast to the paper thin ash of which we are constructed there is
the everlasting steadfast love of God. Let's look at the power of God here! It begins here with the phrase, "But the steadfast love of the Lord..." In other words, these children are so weak, BUT the steadfast love of the Lord can overcome that weakness, can meet them in that weakness. God's love never ends. You can't exhaust it. You can't do something so terrible, you've reached the limits of it. You can't use up all your coupons with him. His love was there before you were born and it will be there after you die. It extends beyond you. And this has great implications for you! You can be forgiven.
Listen, what keeps you from coming clean before other men. You are scared their love is not great enough. And you have good reason to be scared! Men do not have very great love. You have lots of experience with weak love don't you! You think, man it would really take a tremendous love for them to forgive me for this. What kind of love would it take to forgive you of the deepest offenses? A tremendous love! Behold, my friends, we are standing in the presence of this sort of love! Do you think the love of the Lord is too weak to overcome your pornographic addiction, your chemical addiction, your same sex attraction, your materialism, your jealousy, your unforgiving spirit. It is a love that extends from everlasting to everlasting. IT can't be extinguished or exhausted. What's that thing your so ashamed of. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the assembly of the bankrupt. We are all there. We are all in this boat together! We put our confidence not in the way we can spin our problem so hopefully it isn't seen for what it is. We don't put our confidence in the beauty of our clothes that cover us up. We put our confidence in the steadfast love of the Lord that goes from everlasting to everlasting toward those who what? Fear him toward those who keep his covenant. We have tried here to meditate and remember and consider on the mercy of God. And that translates into celebration.
That's what we see next! Now I want you to notice how this personal meditation turns to corporate praise. We started out with preaching to self and after that truth has worked it's way in, the pressure has built and now it
explodes in praise! Now he's calling everyone to join him! Angels join me. Might ones join me. All the hosts, join me. Ministers join me. If you are a work of God's hand, join me! Bless the LORD oh my soul! We are going to close with Jesus Messiah which hits on so many of these themes. He became sin, who knew no sin That we might become His righteousness He humbled himself and carried the cross Love so amazing, love so amazing A song that just celebrates the MERCY of God. Stand with me as we close.