by One of the easiest ways to get discouraged in our season of life is to forget the benefits and blessings afforded us as believers. When we forget the privileges which are ours because of our relationship with Christ, we are in danger of viewing our Christian life as a duty and an obligation. When we allow this to happen, we lose joy in our Christian life and forget that our #1 benefit is an eternal healthy physical body with Christ. Luke 10:20 implores us, “but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Psalm 103:1-2 instructs us to “bless the Lord” by not forgetting “all His benefits.” David goes on in this Psalm to show us some of our most important benefits that afford us eternal life. In 103:3 we are to bless the Lord for forgiving our sins Do you remember that first time you knew and felt the joy of your sins being forgiven? In 103:3 we are to bless the Lord for healing our diseases. Context of this chapter being spiritual, so this healing speaks of our sin sickness. Do you remember that first time you knew and felt the joy of your sins being healed? In 103:4 we are to bless the Lord for redeeming our life. Do you remember that first time you knew and felt the joy of your redemption from eternal destruction? In 103:4 we are to bless the Lord for giving us a crown of love and mercy. Do you remember that first time you knew and felt the joy of God’s crowning lovingkindness and tender mercies in you?
Psalm 103 points to our eternal life and the process that gets us there. This process went through the upstretched Cross at Calvary where “the heaven is high above the earth” which welcomes all with outstretched arms “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:10-13). In these verses, the only thing in the way of receiving eternal forgiveness is “our sins,” which Christ nailed “to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).
We must never forget that God came through for us and “hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Ps 103:10).
