Three Ways to Bless the Lord

Scripture:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits.

Psalm 103:2

Observation: The psalmist opens this psalm with a famous line - 'bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name' - and then states to remember the "benefits" received when we bless Yahweh. The next eight verses enumerate those benefits, and they are ... forgiveness of sin, healing of disease, redemption from personal destruction, holy love, tender mercies, pleasant food and drink, bodily strength, justice for the oppressed, divine knowledge, grace for our mistakes, and patience with our iniquities.

In all these ways, our blessing of the Lord - through our worshipful praise of him and his holy name - returns to us. This is his love toward us as his creation. When we acknowledge the Lord as our master, or protector, our redeemer, our salvation, our purpose ... then he cares for us.

Application: How can we - mere mortal humans - "bless the Lord"? The answer is certainly ... worship, prayer, and obedience.

Worship is our outward acknowledgment that the Lord is above us in the authority of our own lives. It is also the means by which we best express our thanks, love, and honor toward our creator.

Prayer is our conversation with the Lord, where we can express our thoughts. It is a time to talk, to ask, to honor, to thank. It is also a way of creating relationship, whereby we get time with God. And finally, but really foremost, it is also a time to meditate and thus listen to the Lord for his words back to us.

Obedience is our display of the outcomes of worship and prayer. It is where we have listened to God - both his words to us and his teachings in the bible - and responded to those words because we again agree his is the authority of our lives.

Do I do ... ANY of these well? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding 'no' ... or maybe 'sometimes'. I enjoy worship, and I should do that more even in private times of day (the real reason youtube is great ... a lot of worship songs to sing with!). I don't pray enough, and should do so more often, and about everything. Certainly obedience is where we all fall down and always have, which is even acknowledged by the psalmist today as he indicates the Lord removes our transgressions as far from us as the east is from the west.

I desire to bless the Lord, oh my soul. How to do so is right here for me to follow.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your benefits. I do not deserve them, first because I do not bless you enough, and second because I could never bless you perfectly as you deserve. This means your first benefit is your love and mercy, as you are willing to love me in my imperfection. I will never be perfect. Please help me in my striving to be better. Amen.