Bless the Lord, O My Soul | A Sermon on Psalm 103:1-5

Introduction
My daughter, Abigail, always says Thanksgiving is here favorite holiday.  The others—especially Christmas, she says—have so much buildup and hype and commercialism.  But then they fail to deliver all they’ve overpromised.  But Thanksgiving is simple:  food, family, and giving thanks.  Abigail has always been wise beyond her years.

As we lead up to Thanksgiving, I want to spend a few weeks considering what it means to give thanks. How can we live a life of gratitude, so that thanks is part of our daily life, not just one day a year?

Gratitude begins when we take time to remember the goodness of God and bless Him for all His benefits. Forgetfulness leads to grumbling; remembrance leads to praise.

Psalm 103:1-5
¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
² Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
³ He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
⁴ He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
⁵ He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Tuning Your Soul to God
Psalm 103 is attributed to David.  Now David was king of Israel, but it was a long road to get there.  Remember, David started out as the youngest of a set of brothers.  And when the prophet Samuel came to inspect Jesse's sons to see which one of them would be the next king of Israel, David wasn't even invited to the party.  He was left out in the field to watch the sheep.  Even his own family didn't respect him.

And after David defeated the giant, Goliath, and won battles on behalf of King Saul, Saul was jealous.  David ended up unjustly accused of treason and chased all around the land with Saul trying to kill him.  He slept in caves, suffered deprivation, and had his reputation questioned.  But through it all, David reminded his soul to praise the Lord and not forget all the good things.  That's how David lived his whole life and it kept him so in tune with God that the Scripture says David was a man after God's own heart.  

We must tune our souls to God through gratitude.  Do you remember the old radio with the analogue dial tuners?  You would tune it to a station, but you couldn't just go by the number on the dial.  That would get you close, but you had to listen until the static faded and the signal became clear.  

Gratitude is how we tune in our soul to God.  Remind your soul to give thanks to God.

Beware of Spiritual Amnesia
We all suffer from spiritual amnesia.  Forgetfulness is one of humanity’s spiritual diseases.  The Israelites constantly forgot God’s deliverance.  Even after he miraculously parted the Red Sea so they could escape the Egyptian army on dry ground, and God fed them with mana from heaven and quenched their thirst in the desert with water from a rock, the Israelites stilled complained.  They forgot so quickly.

And it wasn't just in the Old Testament.  Even the 12 Disciples who walked with Jesus in the New Testament and saw His miracles, constantly forgot, doubted, worried, and were afraid.

We forget too.  So we have to make ourselves remember what God has done.  Make a habit of remembering and giving thanks. Some practical things you can do to help:

• Keep a gratitude journal - write down things for which you are thankful throughout your day.  Then go back and read it from time to time--especially when you are feeling down or overwhelmed by your problems.
• Share testimonies - tell people about the good things God has done for you.
• Tell your children or grandchildren what God has done for you.  If you don't have children, share it with other young people in your life.  It will encourage them and you.
• Share daily gratitude post on social media.  A lot of people have been doing this during the month of November, leading up to Thanksgiving.  It is a wonderful, useful, uplifting habit.

Throughout Psalm 103, David lists so many of the things God has done.  We read the beginning of His list in verses 3-5 and these are all things for which we can be thankful too. 

We can be thankful God forgives all our sins.
Remember, you do not deserve God’s mercy. You do not deserve good things. You are a sinner.  You turned away from God and rejected His rightful authority over your life.  You didn't care that He made you for a purpose.  You chose to chase after your own desires.  Some may have even done specific things they know they shouldn't do.  But God, through Christ, has mercy and forgives all our sins.  Be thankful. 

He heals all our diseases.
All healing—whether physical, emotional, of spiritual—comes from God.  We often pray for physical healing.  And often it comes.  Do not forget or take for granted every healing that comes from God--even the small moments of healing.  

Sometimes healing does not come in the way we expect.  But we can still be thankful.  Because, if we are in Christ, God is still working to heal us--even if it doesn't come until the next life.  Keep in mind that all physical healing in this life is only temporary.  Even if you are healed from some terrible disease (like cancer) today, your body will still eventually wear out and die.  So our ultimate hope is in the ultimate healing that comes when we rise from death.  Then our bodies will be made completely whole.  And so, we can be thankful...

He redeem us from death.
Ultimate healing comes when we die and are resurrected with Christ.  Through Christ, we have eternal life with God forever.  And there will be no more sin or sickness or suffering or death (Revelation 21).  So no matter what happens to us or those we love, we can be thankful because Jesus conquered death.  We are victorious when we trust in Christ.  Even death can be cause for thanksgiving for Christians who trust in Jesus Christ.

He crowns us with love and tender mercies.
Though we were sinners, rebels, betrayers, failures, God puts a crown on our heads and calls us His royal sons and daughters.  He loves us like He loves His own Son, Jesus.  He rewards us as though we had followed Him faithfully.  What incredible tender mercies! "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."  (Romans 5:8) Praise be to God!  

He fills our lives with good things.
Each of us have so many good things in our lives to be thankful for.  We often forget, because we focus on our struggles instead of our blessings.  We may say, “Why do so many ‘bad things’ happening to me?”  We ought, instead, to ask, “Why does God allow anything good to happen to me at all? Sinful wretch that I am!”

But God fills our lives with so many good things!  Let us train ourselves to be thankful.  For in doing so, we tune our hearts to the Lord’s.

Psalm 103:1-2
¹ Let all that we are praise the Lord; with our whole hearts, we will praise His holy name.
² Let all that we are praise the Lord; may we never forget the good things He does for us.

Building a Life of Gratitude
As we head toward Thanksgiving, it’s easy to think of gratitude as a moment—just a day on the calendar with turkey and family and a quick prayer before the meal.  But Psalm 103 reminds us that gratitude is not a moment; it’s a lifestyle.

When David said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” he wasn’t waiting for everything in life to be perfect. He was training his heart to remember that, no matter what happens, God is still good.

Gratitude isn’t automatic—it’s a spiritual discipline. It takes practice.
But when we practice gratitude, amazing things happens:

• The things that once weighed us become lighter
• The noise of worry fades
• And the voice of God becomes clear again.

That’s why Thanksgiving shouldn’t just be a holiday—it should be a holy habit.  A life of gratitude is a life that stays tuned to God.

So this week—and in the weeks ahead—let’s do more than count our blessings.  Let’s build our lives around them.  I challenge your to think how you could practice gratitude.  Perhaps you could:

• Begin every day with a simple prayer: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”
• When you feel overwhelmed, stop and remember one good thing God has done.
• Maybe you want to keep a list or journal of all the things you are thankful for each day.
• Before you fall asleep, whisper a thank-you for His mercy that met you again today.

If we train our hearts to remember—then every day can become a day of thanksgiving.

Closing Prayer
Lord, You have filled our lives with good things—
forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, and mercy.
Teach us to remember.
Teach us to bless Your name not only when life feels full,
but when it feels empty.
Let gratitude shape our words, our homes, and our worship,
so that this Thanksgiving and every day after,
we might live as people whose souls continually say:
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Amen.

 

Saying Thank You...

The Truth As Far As I Can Tell…

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Philippians 1:3 – Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.

     I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has taken time to read my blog. I've had 24,503 views since my first post back in April of 2015. I'm very humbled so many would take time to read about my thoughts, sermons, articles, and such.  
           This month, we will enjoy the great celebration of Thanksgiving. It’s a time when we celebrate the bounty of God’s blessings to us and remember to be thankful. Many people fail to be truly thankful. There are some who don’t say thank you at all. Other people say thank you all the time, but don’t really mean it. 

            I spoke with a gentleman once who said something unusually honest. He revealed that he struggles with being thankful for his employees. He said, “Why should I tell them thank you for doing a good job? To me that seems dishonest. They get paid for what they do and that is their reward. I do tell them ‘thank you’,” he said, “but the real reason I say thank you is because I want to encourage them to continue doing a good job. I’m not really thankful; I’m really just trying to manipulate them into doing a good job—if I’m really honest about it. And that is not really being thankful, is it?” 

            No, saying “thank you” does not necessarily make you a thankful person. Sometimes we say thank you so much it looses its meaning. Being truly thankful requires the realization that we have received a gift. 

            So as you celebrate Thanksgiving this month, don’t just make it your goal to say thank you more often; and don’t just settle for recognizing how many things you have to be thankful for either. Instead, reflect on how each blessing has been a gift from somebody. Reflect on the ways God has answered your prayers. Be thankful even on the ways He has given you a gift by not answering your prayers. Make it your goal to actually be more thankful. That way when you say “thank you”, it will be more than just words that fall from your mouth. “Thank you” will be a living prayer that flows from a grateful heart. Of course, I’m no expert and I certainly don’t claim to know everything, but that’s the Truth as far as I can tell…

 

God loves you and so do I!

The Tenth Commandment - Do not covet

Exodus 20:17

Introduction

            As I was leaving the worship service at my church last week, I told someone, “Man, my toes hurt!  It’s hard to preach the Ten Commandments!”  Every week during this series at my church, I’ve felt like I’m stepping on my own toes.  These commandments are challenging.  They tell us how to live a godly life together, but they also step on our toes as they draw our attention to the many ways we fall short.  They point out how desperately we need God’s grace and forgiveness.  So even as we recognize our sin, we enjoy God’s unconditional love more fully when we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness.

            We have one more commandment to study.  But before we dive into this last one, let’s look at all ten together.  By now, I hope you’ve completed the challenge to memorize them.  If not, then keep working on it.  The Commandments are found in Exodus 20:1-17.             

The Ten Commandments:

1.     Do not worship any God except the Lord.

2.     Do not make idols of any kind.

3.     Do not misuse the name of the Lord.

4.     Remember to observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.

5.     Honor your father and mother.

6.     Do not murder.

7.     Do not commit adultery

8.     Do not steal.

9.     Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

10.  Do not covet.

Today we will look at the Tenth Commandment as found in Exodus 20:17

“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Farm Truck

            For years, Kelly and I have talked about one day getting an old truck.  (Everyone needs a truck now and then, right?)  We have especially needed one since we moved here to Dalton.  We don't have garbage service where I live.  Who wants to load up garbage cans into the back of a minivan to haul to the recycle center?  But that’s what I used to have to do—along with lumber for projects back at the house and even goats for Mullis Farm!  What we needed was an old truck.

            Well, we got that farm truck in an unexpected way about 2 years ago.  My girls and I were in an accident on the interstate coming home from a movie.  Thank the Lord, no one was hurt—that was a miracle considering our minivan was completely totaled.  We were blessed to have good car insurance and ended up coming out of the whole thing pretty well.  Thanks to folks down at North Georgia Toyota, we were able to buy a slightly newer, nicer Toyota Sienna than we had before—one that hadn’t been used to haul goats and garbage.  And, we had enough money left over—along with some tax return money—to buy an old farm truck so we wouldn’t have to put goats and garbage in the new van.

Our farm truck is a 1992 Chevy Silverado and it fits the bill for what we need.  It’s nothing fancy and the AC doesn’t work anymore, but it’s reliable and works great for hauling trash, lumber, goats, pigs, hay, and whatever else needs hauling.  Plus, it has enough seating inside that we can fit the whole family in it (even if they fuss a little about it).  It’s old enough that I don’t care if it gets scratched or dented or dirty.  But there’s one thing the truck doesn’t have that I wish it did—four-wheel-drive.  It get's stuck in the mud and snow real easy.  And even though the Lord blessed me with this truck, the Devil sometimes uses it as a tool to make me sin.

It started that first winter after we bought the truck.  We had several snow storms and Kelly is a nurse. She doesn’t get the day off when it snows.  She has to go in.  They even require nurses to sleep at the hospital when they get off shift if there’s any question of being able to get back for their next shift.  Now, we have plenty of friends who have 4-wheel-drives who have offered to pick Kelly up and take her to work when the snow is on the ground.  But, I still found myself wishing I had bought a truck with 4-wheel-drive.

So now, I find myself struggling with this Tenth Commandment.  One minute I will be driving down the road in "old blue," feeling thankful that the Lord: 1) protected me and my girls during that accident, 2) gave me a great truck that despite being so old, runs great.  Then, the next minute, the Devil draws my attention to another old truck driving on the road or parked on a curb for sale.  I start looking.  “Is it four-wheel-drive?  Man, I wish this truck was four-wheel-drive like that one.”

You Must Not Covet

            To covet:  to yearn to possess or have (something).  The sin of coveting is a particular struggle in America, because it is so engrained in our culture.  To a large degree, our economy relies on people who covet.  Right?  We are motivated to get ahead because we see things we want and we work hard to earn the money to get them.  In Dalton, we live in the "carpet capital of the world" because people all over the world covet nice houses with elegant flooring.  Their desires require someone to make elegant flooring.  So factories in our community manufacture elegant flooring—which provides jobs for thousands of people who also covet things like houses, cars, clothes, entertainment, etc.  And the cycle continues.

            However, coveting is a symptom of deeper spiritual problems.  First off, it is evidence that we are not thankful for what we have.  Most of us are already blessed with so much.  Almost half the world lives on less than $730/year while here in America we earn about $50,000/year.  And yet, how much time do we spend truly being thankful for what we already have?  Not nearly as much time as we spend longing for even more.

            Coveting may be a sign of an idolatrous heart.  Idolatry is when we look for fulfillment from created things in ways that only God can fulfill us.  We think “If I could just have that new house, that new job, that new relationship, that new body, that new phone, that four-wheel-drive truck…”  But these things are never enough.  We always want more.  That greed, that selfishness, that covetousness, is not good.  It turns us away from God.  It breaks our relationship with the source of True Fulfillment and seeks to replace Him with things that cannot satisfy.

 

Conclusion

            The Devil loves it when we covet, because he can use it against us.  He takes the desire in us and tricks us into thinking it must be satisfied.  And often, we are willing to commit other sins to achieve our desires.  Coveting gives birth to lies, stealing, cheating, extramarital affairs, murder, corruption, pain and hurt.  Ultimately, it is a sin that turns our hearts away from God.

Colossians 3:5 says, “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.”

Brothers and sisters, pray to the Lord to help you put to death a covetous heart.  Stop dreaming about the things you don't have.  Be thankful for what the Lord has graciously given you already.  Be filled with His goodness.  Be lost in His love.  Be overwhelmed by your blessings.

Invitation

            We all fall short.  We covet.  We steal.  We lie.  We break the 10 Commandments and they point out that we are sinners.  But the Good News is, through Christ, we can be forgiven and make a fresh start.  Jesus did not come to condemn you, but to save you.  Wouldn’t you like to be saved?  Wouldn’t you like to be forgiven and make a fresh start today?  Then humble yourself.  Bow your head and pray to the one who can save you from your sin and set you on the right path.