All His Benefits

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.

The Lord has so many benefits, there’s no way we could list them all, but I think this Psalm says so much. I love the completeness of each statement – He forgives us of our sins, and heals us of our diseases. It’s not as though He says we’re forgiven and then just lets us sit and rot in our own guilt and pain. No, He heals us, restores us.

He redeems our lives from the pit, and crowns us with love and compassion. It’s not as though He simply reaches down into the pit, pulls us out, sets us on the edge, and says “keep moving!” like some slave-driver. No, He pulls us out, cleans us up, and crowns us as though we had never been in a pit, but always upon a throne.

See, God doesn’t just do things because He has to. We are His children, and He desires to give us good things, great things. So often we live as though He has just given us the first part, without completing it with the second. We live forgiven, but not healed; redeemed, but not crowned. We live as though He saves us, but doesn’t seek to satisfy our desires with good things, blessed things, heavenly things.

Let us praise the Lord for all that He is, all that He does, and let’s live each day victorious, remembering all His benefits. Be blessed today!