Bless The Lord

Good Morning!

Can you believe that 2011 is half over? Where has the year gone? It seems like 2010 was just yesterday … well, actually, it seems like 1970 was just yester day … so where has forty years gone so quickly? Nowadays it isn’t at all unusual to be talking about a historical happening … and to see my listener looking at me will no real understanding … because they weren’t even born when the event occurred. Yes, it seems that time is flying by these days.

Do you remember WAITING for you 21st birthday? Do you remember how it seemed like it would never arrive? We give dates special meanings when they are just blips in the measurement of eternity. Our entire earthly existence is just a brief journey into eternity. King David knew this and penned this Psalm:

Psalm 103 English Standard Version (ESV)
Bless the LORD, O My Soul
Of David.
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
14For he knows our frame;[a]
he remembers that we are dust.

15As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Footnotes:
a. Psalm 103:14 Or knows how we are formed

The other night at Bible study I shared that we need to pay attention to the small things that God does for us and to not only praise Him but to share them as a testimony of God’s goodness. We live in a world that doesn’t see … or doesn’t acknowledge … the workings of God. It is our responsibility to point out God’s blessings as they occur in our lives. So, bless the Lord, O my soul … and forget not all of His benefits…

Agape’


Mr. Jim