Let’s not forget all the benefits of God.
[Psalms 103]
I meditated on Isaiah 30:18 at the prayer meeting this morning: “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.” God who waits to show us grace and mercy, the God who hears and answers our prayers when we cry out to Him, that God gives us abundant grace. As those who have received His abundant grace, our responsibility is not to forget the grace given to us. In Psalms 103:2, the psalmist David says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits.” I hope and pray that we will live in the grace of God by meditating on and remembering the five benefits of God under the heading “Let's not forget all the benefits of God” based on Psalms 103.
The first benefit of God is to forgive all our sins.
Look at Psalms 103:3a – “Who pardons all your iniquities ….” At least, if we are a conscientious Christian, no one will not worry about the problem of sin. The reason is because of God's holy presence, His holy Word, our sins are exposed and our conscience is pierced. However, the problem is that some people struggle with guilt while struggling with the problem of sin. Eventually, these people are endlessly disappointed with themselves, suffering from guilt. Therefore, they have low self-esteem. They value their own existence low. This phenomenon is due to unbalanced self-reflection and self-examination. The reason is because even though it is precious grace to realize sin through God's Word, we don’t realize God's love and grace because we don’t look at Jesus in faith who forgives all our sins.
This is what the psalmist David says in Psalms 103:10, 12 – “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. … Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.” God doesn’t repay for our sins (evil). God is angry when we sin (vv. 8, 9), but He isn’t a God who is hastily angry and punishes us (verse 8). What is the reason? The reason why God's punishment doesn’t come quickly when we sin is because God wants us to repent (Rom. 2:4). In other words, the reason why God doesn’t immediately punish us when we commit sin is to give us time (opportunity) to repent. God is a God who is angry when we sin, but doesn’t hold it long (Ps.103:9). The reason is because God's lovingkindness toward us is great (v. 11) and abundant (v. 8). Therefore, our loving God doesn’t repay us for our sins. Our God is the God who has removed our sins far away from us as far as the east is from the west. Our life of faith, which we don't really understand, is that we hold our sins too close, even though God has removed our sins far away from us as far as the east is from the west. Although God is pleased to forgive our sins, so he thoroughly forgives our sins, we don’t often forgive our sins. We must accept by faith that God has removed our sins as far away as the east is from the west. God has thoroughly forgiven our sins. The more we live our faith in that grace, the deeper we must realize it.
Psalms 86:5 says “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive ….” Pastor Sung-Geon Hong said in his book, ‘A Person Who Participates in God's Character’: ‘But when we repent, God's mercy will come. No matter how severe situation we are in, even in the vicious circle of sin, God is so happy to forgive’ (Hong). Why is God happy to forgive our sins? Why does God act kindly to us? The reason is because God knows our constitution (103:14). That is, because He remembers that we are but dust (v. 14). Look at Psalms 103:15-16: “As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer.” A life like a grass, a life like a flower in the field, a life that disappears when the wind passes, a life that is truly weak, and God has compassion for us because He knows this constitution (v. 13). That is why God loves to forgive our sins. We must not forget this God’s benefit. We must not forget the benefit of God who loves to forgive all our sins.
The second benefit of God is to heal all our diseases.
Look at Psalms 103:3 – “… Who heals all your diseases.” I see a lot of people around me who are suffering from illness these days. Like the phrase ‘Birth, old age, sickness and death’, people are born and grow old, and then they have no choice but to die from sickness. Therefore, getting sick is, in a way, extremely natural. Knowing that fact, when we get sick, we ask God to heal our sickness. Who would want to suffer from a disease? That is why we are looking for God.
When we look at Exodus 15:26, the Bible says “… for I, the Lord, am your healer.” And Psalms 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.” He is the God who heals our physical ailments, but first solves our fundamental problems and then heals our physical diseases. The fundamental problem is nothing but sin. Not all (eg. Job), but one of the reasons we get sick physically is because of our sins. An example is King Jehoram in 2 Chronicles 21:18-19. The Bible says that the Lord smote Jehoram and caused a disease in his bowels with an incurable sickness. When we have sinned and don’t repent, we must keep in mind that our holy God causes us to dwell in sickness and the accompanying wounds and suffering as a result of that unrepentant sin. One example of solving the fundamental sin problem before He healed our physical illness is the paralytic man lying on the bed in Matthew 9:1-8. The Lord first forgiven the paralyzed man's sin [(v. 2) “And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven”] He healed his physical sickness [(vv. 6-7) “… then He said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, pick up your bed and go home.’ And he got up and went home”]. How does God heal all our sicknesses? He heals with His words. Look at Psalms 107:20 – “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.” In the New Testament Matthew 8:8 we can see the centurion asking Jesus to heal his servant. There the centurion said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (v. 8). Our God is the God who not only solves our fundamental sin problems with the power of His words, but also heals our physical diseases as well. We must not forget this benefit of God.
The third benefit of God is to redeem our lives from the pit.
Look at Psalms 103:4a – “Who redeems your life from the pit, ….” Here's a biblical character that comes to mind when I think about the word “pit” is none other than Jonah. The reason is because the prophet Jonah disobeyed God's command, ‘Arise, go and cry against it’ (Jonah 1:2) so he went down and then went down to the depths of the sea, that is, the pit (2:6). He went down to Joppa (1:3), went down into the ship (v. 3), went down into the hold of the ship (v. 5) and further went down into the roots of the mountains (2:6). Jonah disobeyed and eventually went down to the pit (v. 6). However, even in that deep pit, Jonah looked again toward God’s holy temple (v. 4). Therefore, God answered his prayer and delivered his life from the pit (v. 6). When I think of Jonah, I think of Jesus. Unlike Jonah, Jesus went down to hell or suffered hell-like pain, like a deep pit, despite obeying God's word. Jesus, God’s begotten Son, was forsaken by Heavenly Father. Why did Jesus suffer such destruction? The reason is because He wanted us to redeem our lives. Job's friend Elihu told Job: “To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life” (Job 33:30). God's purpose in turning our souls out of a hellish pit is because He wants to shine on us with the light of life. In other words, the reason God redeemed us by the death of Jesus on the cross is to give us eternal life. We, who have received this eternal life as a gift in Jesus Christ, must not forget this benefit of God.
The fourth benefit of God is to give us abundant grace.
Look at Psalms 103:4b – “… Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.” This word refers to the abundant grace that all people can see (Park). We must not forget the abundant grace that God has given us in our lives. Another thing to remember is that God tests us first, trains us, and then gives us abundant grace. Look at Psalms 66:10, 12b – “For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. … Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.” In order to receive abundant grace, we must become the vessels to receive that grace. In order to become the vessels that can contain such abundant grace, we need training. Through that training, we can open our hearts and mouths wide. And when God shows us the abundant grace that He has built up in heaven, we can receive it with humility and gratitude through faith. We must also keep in mind that God's abundant grace can be enjoyed in the deep realization of sin. Look at Romans 5:20 – “… but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” Those who can receive and enjoy God's abundant grace are those who know the size, extent, and depth of their sins. Those who know these sins receive the redeeming grace of Jesus and can dwell and enjoy the rich grace that God has given and still gives in Jesus Christ. What should we, who live by receiving and enjoying this abundant grace of God, do? Look at Psalms 103:20-21: “Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.” The Christians who receive and enjoy God's abundant grace listen to God's Word and live by obeying it (v. 20). And they serve God and do His will (v. 21).
The fifth and last benefit of God is to satisfy our desires with good things.
Look at Psalms 103:5 – “who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” This verse indicates that God gives the saints spiritual grace abundantly so that they can rejoice and strengthen their hearts so that they will not quickly become old (Park). I think one of the words that the Lord spoke to the church in Laodicea is one of the words that apply to many of us in this time in which we live: “'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot …” (Rev. 3:15). Why do we refer to our own life of faith as a ‘Life of faith that is neither cold nor hot’? One of the reasons is because, like the Laodicea saints, we are saying “I am rich, and have become wealthy” (v. 17). In other words, it is because living in the illusion of self without a thirsty and hungry soul who desperately needs something, thinking that he is a “rich man” who has no need for himself. How do we know this? How do we know that there is no poor spirit? We can see it by looking at the soul that does not seek Him. In other words, we can see it by looking at the soul that doesn’t pray. The psalmist, who had a hungry and thirsty soul, and a longing soul, says in Psalms 107:4-5, “They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; They did not find a way to an inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty; Their soul fainted within them.” In such a hungry and thirsty situation, he cried out to the Lord out of his distress (v. 6). Then God answered his prayer: “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good” (v. 9). The psalmist responded by experiencing God who fills the longing and hungry souls with good things: “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!” (v. 8) Why then does the Lord satisfy our desires with good things? The reason is to renew our youth like an eagle’s (v. 5). Here, why did David compare his youth to “the eagle”? It is said that the “eagle” doesn’t die because it is old, but because it lives too long, their beak is too long to be used well and dies because it cannot eat. Therefore, the eagle is a symbol of eternal youth. It is true that believers live long in their bodies because of the power of their faith (Park). So the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 40:29-31: “He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
We are those who have received God’s benefits. Therefore, we must shout to ourselves like the psalmist David: “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- … Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul” (Ps. 103:1-2, 22). Our souls must praise God. We must praise God as those who have received God’s benefits. And we must not forget the benefits He gives us.
Living by the grace of God
James Kim
(After the morning prayer meeting)