REMEMBER GOD SAID, “Whoso praises me, glories me” (Psalm 50:23). After praising God for what He has done, now David praises God for who He is. So can we when we read, meditate, and pray this Psalm to the Lord.
1. Praise the Lord for His Blessings (103:1-5) (See Part 1)
2. Praise the Lord for His Attributes (103:6-22)
David repeats “The Lord” three times in verses 6-22 and identifies three attributes of God for which we should praise Him. In addition to praising Him for His benefits, we should praise Him for His attributes.
A. Praise the Lord for His Justice (103:6-7)
The example is the Lord delivering “Moses” and the oppressed “children of Israel” as they fled from Egypt through the Red Sea. God took care of the oppressors.
David was oppressed for 10-15 years by jealous king Saul. David ran from cave to cave as a fugitive. David was innocent. David, however, refused to take justice into his own hands even though he had two opportunities to kill his antagonist.
“Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” One day God will right all wrongs.
B. Praise the Lord for His Mercy (103:8-18)
David does not dwell on the justice of God but rather on His mercy. As bad as we might want God’s justice for someone else we do not want God’s justice for ourselves.
After David had sinned with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, David prayed for mercy: “Have mercy upon, O God” (51:1). Now he follows that prayer for mercy with praise for mercy in 103:8-10. The Lord is slow to anger (v. 8) because of His mercy. When He does get angry He doesn’t stay angry long (v. 9). Lastly because He has forgiven our sins, He no longer has a reason to get angry (v.10).
Having experienced God’s mercy, David praises the Lord for His immeasurable mercy in 103:11-13.
1. God’s mercy is immeasurable in height (v. 11).
Dr. Steward Custer, an astronomer and theologian said, “Reduce 1 million miles to one foot and the closest star is Northern Canada.” Just as we can’t fathom the distance between earth and the stars, neither can we comprehend how great is God’s mercy to us.
2. God’s mercy is immeasurable in width (v. 12).
East and West go forever into infinity and never meet. Never will we meet our forgiven sins again.
3. God’s mercy is immeasurable in human terms (v.13).
When I was in the third grade I had a mean teacher who scared me to death. I cried every morning before school. Mom had to push me out the door every morning to go to the bus stop. He would yank students out the class into the hall and paddle them almost every day. After that year he was fired. Finally, into the school year we moved out of that school district. I was so relieved. After I was grown and married, my wife and I were at Mom and Dad’s just sitting around talking and I brought up Mr. Davis’ class, and how I cried every day before school. And Dad said, “That is why is we moved.” I did not know Dad moved just so I would not have to face that difficulty each school day.” I cried again. The mercy of the Lord is even many more times more merciful than the most loving human father.
4. God’s mercy is eternal (vv. 14-18)
We are frail and temporal (103:14). We are not made of gold dust but dirt dust. We don’t live long (103:15, 16). We are like grass and flowers that the hot Palestinian wind not only kills but disintegrates.
By contrast, God is eternal (103:15), but He is not just eternal He is eternally merciful (103:17-18). David quotes Moses in Psalm 90.2 who said God is from “everlasting to everlasting.” David goes a step further, God is everlastingly merciful. This reason God is going to let us into His heaven is His mercy. The reason He is going to let us live with Him forever is His eternal mercy.
Do you know what we are going to sing when we get to heaven in Revelation 7:11-12? “Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”
C. Praise the Lord for His Sovereignty (103:19)
God raises up nations and kings and puts down nations and kings. “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.” He rules the machinery of the entire universe. He is also intimately involved in your life. He knows your name. You say, “But you don’t know what I am going through.” That is true but the Lord does and He cares and He is in control.
John Wesley had been riding horseback for months in the constant downpour of rain on his circuit rides from preaching post to preaching post. He finally complained to the Lord: “Why don’t you stop this rain, it is hindering my ministry.” About that time a highway robber jumped out from behind a tree with a flintlock musket. The robber was going to shoot, kill, and rob Wesley. But when the robber pulled the trigger, the flintlock misfired. The rain had wet his gunpowder. The robber fled. Wesley got down off his horse and onto his knees in the mud beside the tree and thanked God for the rain. God rules in the rain as well as the sunshine.
David reaches his final crescendo of praise in 103:20-22.
David commands every living intellectual being to praise the Lord. In other words as he summarize in his last Psalm, “Let everything that has breathe praise the Lord” (150:6). This will perfectly be experienced for the first time when the church is raptured to heaven as previewed in Revelation 5. We believers will cast our crowns at His feet, then on our faces in worship we will sing worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The cherubim will also be singing and praising God. Then angels join us: Ten thousand times ten thousand times, and thousand and thousands and by every living being in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
Finally every one bows the knee and confesses with his/her lips that Jesus Christ is Lord “to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11). Until we perfectly praise Him we should obey this Psalm and imperfectly praise the Lord for what He has done for us and praise the Lord for who He is. I challenge you to read this Psalm to God as your praise to Him.
