Today

David begins Psalm 103 by talking to himself. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” He says it twice, and the second time he adds a warning: “forget not all his benefits.”

That is our trouble, is it not? We do not usually deny God’s goodness. We forget it. The answered prayer from last spring, the illness He brought us through, the bill that got paid when we did not know how. We forget, and so we worry as if He had never helped us at all. I know my own heart here. I can worry about this week as though He had not carried me through last week.

So David makes a list. He is the one “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Forgiven, healed, redeemed, crowned. Not one of those did we earn. I read that list slowly this morning and could not find one I deserved.

Then David tells us why God deals with us so kindly. “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” God has not forgotten what we are made of. He knows we are weak, and He pities us “Like as a father pitieth his children.” I find great comfort in that. He is not surprised by my weakness.

I am thankful that God remembers that I am dust, and that He asks me to remember that He is good.

What benefit have you forgotten? Before this day is over, bless the Lord for it.