This morning I read from one of my favorite Psalms- Psalm 103. It begins with these familiar words, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” vv.1-2 (emphasis mine).
The Psalm then goes on to list the extraordinary benefits or blessings that belong to God’s people: Forgiveness of sin, redemption, God’s committed, covenant love, His compassion as well as His mercy. The Psalm stresses that God is, in the words of the hymnwriter, “slow to chide and swift to bless”.
What caught my attention this morning was what is said in verse 14, “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (emphasis mine). This Psalm speaks of the fact that we should never forget what is ours in Christ and be reminded that God will never forget our frailty, our condition.
We need to let that sink in. God is a God of great mercy who never forgets. Our circumstances often lead us to forget that. Psalm 103 says “don’t”. This Psalm recognizes our need to be reminded and to remember. God wrote it down for us in Scripture. That’s one of the blessings of a Bible- it is God’s Word written and preserved for us. I think this would be a good Psalm to put to memory.
The implication is that we are prone to spiritual amnesia. God says don’t forget. His Word tells us He won’t forget us or our condition. That’s good news for forgetful Christians.