Monday, August 20, 2012

August 21, 2012

"The Lord works justice for all the righteous. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve  or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass,  they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children — with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels,  you mighty ones who do his bidding,  who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul." Psalm 103:6-22

In this blog the past week I shared from the first five verses of this great Psalm. These verses reveal why we should be motivated to praise the Lord and I spoke about it in my message yesterday.  Please click over to the sermon section of this website and give it a listen!

The three reasons to praise the Lord are because of His pardon, because of His preservation, and because of His provision. It is amazing what He offers to those who love Him and who give Him praise!

All these benefits are offered in just the first five verses of this 103rd Psalm, but the rest of the Psalm is strong, too, because it describes a God Who is able to deliver on all the benefits He promises!


A policy can offer great benefits but those are only as good as the company's ability to deliver on the promises.


For example, you could shop for a good policy with the best benefits and the cheapest premiums and say you find one that sounds so good you are suspicious. So you read the fine print and you check to see who issued the policy. The contract reveals that the policy is offered by Rodney of Rio Linda.


You have heard of Mutual of Omaha and you have heard of New York Life. You have heard of Allstate and State Farm Insurance Companies but not Rodney of Rio Linda. Suddenly the great price doesn't seem so great anymore.


But the rest of the 103rd Psalm lists the reasons that you CAN trust God and have confidence in His benefits! You might say this is God's guarantee of His benefits. These are more reasons to praise God! He is a God Who promises grand benefits, and a God Who can deliver those benefits, and Who is afterall the GREATEST BENEFIT!


Praise Him, O my soul!