Praising Him With Every Fiber Of My Being
Introduction
Bless the Lord, O My Soul”
“O bless the Lord, my soul;
Let all within me join,
And aid my tongue to bless His Name,
Whose favours are divine?
O bless the Lord, my soul;
Nor let His mercies lie
Forgotten in unthankfulness,
And without praises die.
‘Tis He forgives thy sins,
‘ Tis He relieves thy pain,
‘Tis He that heals thy sickness,
And makes thee young again.
He crowns thy life with love,
When ransomed from the grave;
He that redeemed my soul from hell
Hath sovereign power to save.
He fills the poor with good;
He gives the suff’rers rest;
The Lord hath judgments for the proud,
And justice for th’opprest.”
“fear” – is not that of a slave toward his master, but a son toward his father.
In this passage, there are not requests, it is only praise to the Lord. Now, that’s not easy to do! David started with individual and personal praise (1-6), then moved to national praise (6-19), and concluded with universal praise (20-22).
The Psalm also admonishes us not to forget the blessings after we have received and enjoyed them. Maybe that’s why the Psalm has been referred to as David’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” It is also referred to as the “envelope psalm,” because it ends in exactly the same way as it begins, the subject matter being enclosed or enveloped between the opening and closing words: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”
Thoughts of God’s grace parade before the soul of the singer. His thoughts soar God-ward as he thinks of the benediction he owes God and of the benefits he receives from God.
When we think of how good God has been to us, what can we give Him in return? Money? Service? No! We can only bring Him thanksgiving and praise. It is as if David counts off on his fingers as it were five attributes for which the believer can offer praise.
SONG: WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE LORD
When I think about the Lord,
How He saved me, how He raised me,
How He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.
When I think about the Lord,
How He picked me up and turned me around,
How He placed my feet on solid ground.
CHORUS
It makes me wanna shout,
Hallelujah, thank You Jesus,
Lord, you’re worthy of all the glory,
And all of the honor, And all the praise.
This Psalm seems to belong to David’s later life. He’s become more reflective and grateful.
SONG: LET THE WORSHIPPERS ARISE
Father, I hear it growing louder
The song of Your redeemed
As the saints of every nation
Are awakening to sing
From our hearts there comes an anthem
Oh, hear the heavens ring
This is our song, a song to our King!
Chorus
Let the worshippers arise
Let the sons and the daughters sing
I surrender in my all
I surrender to the King
David begins this Psalm of unmitigated praise by admonishing himself to bless the Lord and His holy name with his entire being. He addresses himself and seeks to arouse himself to the proper worship of God. The author confronts himself with his duty and exhorts his own sluggish soul to worship. He is having a talk with his own soul.
I. ADORATION. 1-2 (APPRECIATION)
A. BLESSING. 1
“bless” – means to delight His heart by expressing love and gratitude for all He is and all He does. Parents are pleased when their children simply thank them and love them, without asking for anything. True praise comes from a grateful heart that sincerely wants to glorify and please the Lord.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that’s within me, bless His holy name.” This phrase is “self- transcending itself” as David speaks to his soul.
What does it mean to bless God? Always means to express solemn words that show the appreciation, gratitude, respect, joint relationship, or good will of the speaker, thus promoting respect for the one being blessed. When God is the object, it should always be rendered “praise.” As he blesses God, he throws himself fully into his worship (“all that’s within me”). His worship is a living sacrifice.
“Lord” – Yahweh; God as personal.
“His holy name” – God as transcendent presence and authority.
To bless God with “all that’s within me,” all of our inner being – heart, soul, mind, and strength. This statement also means that we are prepared to obey His will after our praise has ended. Speaks of complete personality, the sum totality of being.
B. BENEFITS. 2
Memory is a great aide to worship; His dealings. In
Deuteronomy, Moses constantly admonished the people to remember the Lord and what He did for them. He also cautioned them not to forget. After three generations, some came on the scene and forgot the Lord and the nation began to decay.
NOTE: (Judges 2:7-3:7)
Judges 2:7, “So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.”
Judges 2:10-15, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.”
II. FOUNDATION. 3a
“forgives” – used in Scripture only of God’s forgiveness of sinners.
“iniquity” – pictures sin as something twisted and distorted.
Forgiveness is the foundation for fellowship. It is a call always to repent and believe the Gospel which promises that confession of sin brings cleansing. (I John 1:9)
“iniquities” – speaks of ingrained perversity, all the bentness of our being.
Forgiveness, in both the Old and New Testament, has the idea of, “to take away and put somewhere else.”
God will not payment twice demand,
First at my Savior’s pierced hand
And then again at mine.
John Phillips illustrates:
“Satan is the ‘accuser of the brethren.’ In God’s presence he tells the truth about our ‘secret faults.’ He is our adversary, but we have an Advocate. The Lord Jesus raises His pierced hands. All is forgiven! All is forgotten!”
III. RESTORATION. 3b
“Who heals all your diseases” – the believer’s body will not be completely delivered from weakness and disease until it is redeemed and glorified at the return of Jesus Christ. This phrase also speaks of the link between forgiveness and healing. The healing is part of the blessing of salvation. In fact, much of our physical and emotional illness is psychogenic due to moral failure. The only relief is God’s forgiveness, which will result in healing.
Luke 6:17-19, “And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.”
The soul does have its diseases: guilt, fear, doubt, depression, anger, lust, hate, jealousy, greed, etc.
IV. REDEMPTION. 4a
“Who redeems your life from destruction” – being rescued; refers also to the consequences of God’s healing. He redeems your life from going to waste. I have been “bought” and “brought”!
Jesus not only redeemed our souls from hell, Jesus also redeemed our lives from destruction.
He saved me from my sin
He saved me from myself (self-destruction)
He brought me out that He may bring me in
V. COMPASSION. 4b
“Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies”
God lavishes positive blessings upon him as well. He crowns him, that is, He makes His child a king.
Psalms 8:4-5
“What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.”
We have been crowned with divine love and mercy. It pictures us reigning in life with Christ.
Romans 5:17, “For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
VI. SATISFACTION. 5
“Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” – “mouth” – translates old age or duration or years. No matter how old we become, God can satisfy the needs of our lives and the spiritual desires of our hearts.
Eagles molt and have what seems to be a new lease on life.
Isaiah 40:31
“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
The believer is strengthened by the Lord, even in old age, and able to “soar” like the eagle. It pictures one of God’s happy old people!
ILL. Caleb
Joshua 14:10-12, “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said."