Today is a day for a mini celebration, because...it's the first day of fall! Today inaugurates what is surely one of the best seasons of the year--brisk refreshing air, brilliantly colored leaves, trick or treaters, Halloween blowups (which I now love because our granddaughter ADORES them), pumpkin anything and everything, pilgrims, thanksgiving, family gatherings...and on and on.
Oh my, thank You, Lord, for the beauty and glory of autumn, and thank You for the gift of a season dedicated to being thankful. Don't we all need it? In a sense, fall provides us with a gratitude reset. In case we've grown complacent or callous or plain old complaint-prone, here comes the time of year where we can and must purposely notice the wonder all around us and the grace showered upon us, and pause to give thanks to the Maker, the Giver, and the Sustainer of any and all good gifts in our lives and in our world.
But in honor of the start to this season of gratitude, here are a few thoughts on Psalm 103. May this psalm jumpstart our praise and thanksgiving to our good and gracious Heavenly Father:
We've just started reading Malachi for our Bible study. The prophet begins in ch.1 with the Lord’s declaration of “I have loved you.” Yet the people sneeringly respond, “How have you loved us?” What a picture of stunning ingratitude, insolence, and pride. Think of all God had done for His chosen people, but it’s as if they’ve forgotten everything. “What have you done for us lately,” they seem to demand.
I can’t tell you how convicted I’ve been by their sinful attitude, especially their complete ingratitude for all the ways the Lord has blessed them so richly and undeservedly. Because isn’t that just like us? How quickly I can morph from worshiping to grumbling or from trusting faith to fearful anxiety. As Paul David Tripp often says, I am all too often a victim of spiritual amnesia: forgetting WHO God is and what He has done for me. Fixating only on what I lack rather than focusing on the stunning riches the Lord has graciously and undeservedly lavished on me in Christ! Forgive me Lord!
But just the other day, I was reading a familiar but wonderful Psalm in my time with the Lord, and the Holy Spirit suddenly pierced my heart with the beauty and truth of God’s words and how they are an antidote for my/our monstrous ingratitude, selfishness and pride. I encourage you to take the first few verses of the psalm and ponder them. Personalize them. Pray them back to God.
“Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits"--what are some of His benefits? His grace, His forgiveness, His love, His power, His mercy, His wisdom, His Word, His Holy Spirit…Innumerable benefits! Thank You Lord!
“Who forgives all your iniquities”—name them! My pride, my selfishness, my envy, my ingratitude, my worry... Name and confess those sins, and then remember, they are forgiven and forgotten because of Christ.
“Who heals all your diseases”—How has He been healing you or those you love? Sure, write down the big ones: healing my friend Caroline, healing our daughter's brain injury, healing Allie Dyer's cancer. But also how about the countless times He’s healed our colds, our flus, our cuts and scrapes, our broken bones, our toothaches, our bouts with covid and on and on? Oh my, He truly is the Great Physician, but when was the last time you thanked Him for healing a headache or a bruise? Thank Him!
“Who redeems your life from the pit”—praise You, Jesus, for healing our times of deep sorrow, discouragement, depression, anxiety, not to mention the greatest pit of all—redeeming us from all our sin and giving us eternal life!
“Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy”—think about that. Do we deserve His steadfast, never-ending, perfect love and mercy? No, a thousand times no, but that’s what He showers upon us!
“Who satisfies you with good things’—Oh boy, I loved this one! Thank You Father for good food, for friends, for laughter, for hot baths, for big mugs of tea, for loyal dogs, for grand babies, for autumn’s beauty. Thank You for the State Fair and exercise buddies and Bible study with wonderful women. Thank You for fall sprinkles on yummy pumpkin cake. Goodness, how about a hot shower? When you took your shower this morning, did you pause to consider what an amazing, what a “good thing,” it is to have an abundance of clean, fresh water pouring over you with a mere turn of a handle…and you can enjoy that water as hot you’d like? WOW! He satisfies us with SUCH good things! So THANK HIM!
“So that your youth is renewed like an eagles.” He does this for me every morning. I can’t tell you how many mornings, I've come to Him many a time feeling discouraged, frustrated, wearied, or plain old distracted. Yet lo and behold, He comes to me in His Word and in His astounding grace, He truly does renew my mind and restore my joy. His mercies are, indeed, new every single morning! I might start off feeling like a slug, but but by the end of my time with Him, I’m soaring like an eagle! Because that’s who He is and what He does. He is the Great Renewer and Restorer!
So today, can I simply encourage you to go to God's Word this week—in particular go to Ps.103--and pray it back to Him. Thank Him. Delight in Him. Like the old song says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one.”
What a Lord we have. Might we all “Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” To God be the glory.
