Psalm 103:1-5
“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—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”
It is a favorite opinion of some, that we are bound to love God for his own perfections, without having any respect to the benefits which we receive from him. But this appears to us to be an unscriptural refinement.
That God deserves all possible love from his creatures on account of his own perfections, can admit of no doubt; and we can easily conceive, that people may be so occupied with an admiration of his perfections, as not to have in their minds any distinct reference to the benefits they have received from him.
But that any creature can place himself in the situation of a being who has no obligations to God for past mercies, and no expectation of future blessings from him, we very much doubt; nor are we aware that God any where requires us so to divest ourselves of all the feelings of humanity, for the sake of engaging more entirely in the contemplation of his perfections.
Nor indeed can we consent to the idea, that gratitude is so low a virtue, Deuteronomy 28:47. On the contrary, gratitude seems to be the principle that animates all the hosts of the redeemed in Heaven; who are incessantly occupied in singing praises to Him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood! By gratitude, all the most eminent saints on earth have been distinguished.
In proof of this, we need go no further than to the Psalm before us, wherein the man after God’s own heart adores and magnifies his Benefactor, for some particular mercies recently given unto him. To instill this principle into your minds, and to lead you to a measure of that devotion with which the sweet singer of Israel was inspired, we shall,
I. State the grounds we have to praise God.
To enumerate all the benefits we have received from God, would be impossible. We must content ourselves with adverting to them in the peculiar view in which they are set before us in the text. We would call you then to consider,
1. The freeness and undeservedness of God’s blessings.
It is this which gives a zest to every blessing we enjoy; in this view, the very food we eat, and the air we breathe, demand our most grateful acknowledgments. The Psalmist begins with speaking of himself as a guilty and corrupt creature, who unless pardoned and renewed by the grace of God, must have been an everlasting monument of his righteous displeasure!
The same thought also should be uppermost in our minds. We should contrast our state with that of the fallen angels, who never had a Savior given unto them; and with that of the unbelieving world, who, in consequence of rejecting the Savior, have perished in their sins! What claim had we, any more than the fallen angels? And if we had been dealt with according to our deserts, where would have been the difference between us, and those who are gone beyond the reach, of mercy Let us but contemplate this, and the smallest mercy we enjoy will appear exceedingly great. Yes, anything short of Hell will be esteemed a mercy! See how this consideration enhanced the favors which God given to David, Psalm 8:1; and Paul, Ephesians 3:8.
2. The richness and variety of God’s blessings.
The Psalm primarily relates to David’s recovery from some heavy disorder; and the terms wherein he expresses his gratitude are precisely such as are used by other people on similar occasions, Isaiah 38:17. On this account, in our review of God’s mercies, it will be proper first to notice the blessings of his providence. How often have we been visited with some bodily disorder, which, for anything we know, has been sent as a preventive or punishment of sin! (We certainly have reason to think, that at this time, as well as in former ages, God punishes the sins of his people in this world, that they may not be condemned in the world to come! Compare 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 11:32 with James 5:15.) And how often have we been raised from a state of weakness and danger, to renewed life and vigor!
At all events, we have been beset with dangers, and yet not permitted to fall a sacrifice to them; and been encompassed with needs, which have been liberally supplied. Can we view all these mercies with indifference? Do they not demand from us a tribute of praise?
But the expressions in the text lead us to contemplate also the blessings of God’s grace. And can we adopt the words in this view? O how great and wonderful are they, if we appreciate them aright! To have one sin forgiven is a mercy of inconceivable magnitude; but to be forgiven all—all that we have ever committed, this is a mercy which neither the tongues of men nor of angels can ever adequately declare.
Think too of the corruptions which with most inveterate malignity infect our souls; to have these healed! to have them all healed! We no longer wonder at the ardor of the Psalmist’s devotion; we wonder only at our own stupidity.
Contemplate moreover the efforts which Satan, that roaring lion, is ever making to destroy us; consider his wiles, his deceits, his fiery darts; what a stupendous mercy is it that we have not been given up as a prey unto his teeth!
Look around at the mercies of all kinds with which we are encircled; and mark the provision of ordinances, and promises, yes, of the body and blood of God’s only dear Son, with which our souls are nourished and renewed; so that our drooping spirits, like the eagle when renewed in its plumage, are enabled to soar to the highest heavens with confidence and joy. Can we find in these things no grounds of praise? Must not our hearts be harder than adamant itself, if they do not melt at the contemplation of such mercies as these?
3. The constancy and continuance of God’s blessings.
See how triumphantly the Psalmist dwells on this. He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies; and let us compare our experience with his.
Has not God made us also the objects of his providential care, by day and by night, from the earliest period of our existence to this present moment?
Has he not also renewed to us every day and hour the blessings of his grace, “watering us as his garden,” and “encompassing us with his favor as with a shield?” Surely we may say that “goodness and mercy have followed us all our days;” there has not been one single moment when our Divine keeper has ever slumbered or slept; he has kept us, “even as the apple of his eye;” “lest any should hurt us, he has kept us day and night.”
Say now, what are the feelings which such mercies should generate in our souls; and what are the returns which we ought to make to our heavenly Benefactor?
Not doubting but that all of you must acknowledge your obligation to praise God, we will, as God shall enable us,
II. Stir you up to the performance of praising God for all of his blessings.
It is the office of your minister to stir up your pure minds “by way of remembrance,” yes, “to put you in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.”
1. We call upon you to praise God individually.
This is not the duty of ministers only, but of all, whatever their age, situation, or condition in life; every one is unspeakably indebted to God; and therefore every one should say for himself, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
If any object, that they have never yet been made partakers of the blessings of Divine grace, we answer, That you have not on this account the less reason to bless God; for the very “long-suffering of God should be accounted by you as salvation;” and if you compare your state (as yet on mercy’s ground) with that of those who have been cut off in their sins, you will see that all the thanks which you can possibly render unto God, are infinitely less than what he deserves at your hands.
Moreover, if you have received no signal deliverances from sickness or danger, you have the more reason to adore your God, who has preserved you so long in the uninterrupted enjoyment of health and peace.
2. We call upon you to praise God fervently.
Praise is not a service of the lip and knee, but of the warmest affections of the soul. The “soul, and all that is within you,” should be exercised in this blessed work. As you are to “love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength,” so also you are to bless him with all your faculties and abilities. You must not however mistake vociferation, and talkativeness, and bodily fervor, for devotion; your expressions of gratitude, even when most elevated and joyous, must resemble those which are used among the heavenly hosts; who “veil their faces and their feet,” or “cast their crowns at the feet” of their adorable Redeemer. Not to bless him in this manner, is constructively and really to “forget the benefits” you have received from him; yes, an utter forgetfulness of them were less criminal than such an ungrateful remembrance.
3. We call upon you to praise God incessantly.
“Praise, praise, praise the Lord!” says the Psalmist to his soul; showing thereby that he would have that to be the continual exercise of his mind. Thus should we also labor to have our minds in a constant readiness for this glorious work.
We need not indeed be always engaged in the act of praise; for we have many other acts in which a great part of our time must be occupied; but the frame of our minds should always be disposed for this duty, so as to be ready for it whenever occasion may call for the performance of it. That we shall feel backwardness to it at times, must be expected; the Psalmist intimates as much, by so repeatedly urging his reluctant soul to this duty. But let us follow his example, and urge our souls, however reluctant, to this blessed work. Let us say with him, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; praise him, praise his holy name!” Or like Deborah, “Awake, awake! Deborah; awake, awake! utter a song!”
Thus to praise God is our privilege on earth;
thus to praise him is a foretaste of Heaven.
Charles Simeon