Forget Not All His Benefits

 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

Psalm 103 ESV

Eugene Peterson, in his book Answering God:  The Psalms as Tools for Prayer, tells us that “forget not all his benefits is the pivot sentence in the showcase salvation psalm, Psalm 103.”  

If we are not mindful, our prayers can focus only on the future and what we and others need from God, and forget all that he has done for us in the past.  If we don’t remember what he has already done for us, how can we trust him to respond faithfully to our pleas for help?

And if we remember all of these blessings, how can we do anything but respond in praise? 

A Firm Foundation

 

Jesus closes his Sermon on the Mount with these words:  “Everyone then who hears these words  of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain  fell, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”  He is suggesting that following his words forms a firm foundation for life.  

One  of the things that Jesus said in the Sermon was “do not worry”.  As we continue our series on the Psalms, we will look on Sunday at one of the Psalms whose overall theme addresses how to dispel the underlying fear that causes us to worry.  

Psalm 27 opens:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

In  just the first verse, the Lord is described as a light, a salvation and a stronghold; there is no need to be fearful!  As Jesus suggested, the Lord is a very firm foundation on which to build your life.

What’s weighing you down? What would you like to let go of?

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,  and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.  When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’  

Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

We don’t know what was crippling the woman - it could have been a physical condition or an emotion like worry, stress, grief that weighed upon this woman.  Or a combination of the two.

When I looked at this week’s scripture, I stopped at  “immediately she straightened up and praised God.“  I have been weighed down by the physical pain of arthritis for many years.  I finally found something that helps me, and the physical and emotional relief that this has brought me feels no less than a modern miracle.  It has changed the way I pray.  I used to only look for Psalms of comfort and assurance and now I also look for Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, like Psalm 100.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 

Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

I am beginning to let go of the worry that this condition will worsen.  I have unclenched my fists a bit to notice, love, and trust that goodness is stronger than fear, evil and malice.  Praise God indeed!

When Were You Graced by God's Goodness this week?

 

On Thursday, Rev. Donna spoke to me about Worship Matters.  “Grace, goodness, gratitude,” she said.  “The 3G Network of Christian Spirituality”  “OK”, I replied.  But did I really understand?

Later, she watched me receive a gift and said, “You were just graced by God’s goodness!  And you are grateful.”  Ah, there is nothing like experiencing something to really understand.

I began to think back over my week and remembered receiving two other gifts from people - graced by God’s goodness again!  And the cool marine breeze and shadow of God’s leafy trees that kept me cool as I walked in the hot sun…more grace and goodness! 

As I looked over the Worship Map (attached), I realized that I had received a multitude of gifts that I didn’t recognize at the time.  Our songs and readings are full of them.

Isaiah  40:

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

                           but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

How many times did I stumble and not fall this week? How many times did God give me the strength that I needed?  I can’t even count.  

How many times did his angels bear me up or did he give me refuge and shield me from harm (Psalm 91)?  Did I respond by singing his grace?  I did not.  Hopefully I’ll make up for it on Sunday.

  

Come O fount of every blessing

tune my heart to sing your grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing

call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet

sung by flaming tongues above!

Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it,

mount of God’s unfailing love.

"For many of us, expressing thanks is too infrequent or only comes with a rush of relief that you have somehow dodged another bullet, found your iPhone, had good news from the doctor, didn't get pulled over … you get the idea.” - Anne Lamott