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,who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1–5)
Praise is born in eyes that see the bigness and goodness of God.
If you are like me, you spend the vast majority of your minutes every day thinking about “me” — about my work and my meals and my needs and my schedule and my weekend and my to-do list. We’re often so swallowed up in self that we can’t see beyond ourselves. Yet there is One far bigger and far more important standing beyond ourselves. His name is God.
Because of our tendency to get wrapped up in us, we need to daily invite our souls back to the bigness and goodness of our Creator and Redeemer. My soul will never find lasting rest or rescue or satisfaction in me. It needs to look to something — to Someone — more able, more loving, more true, and more full. Our souls need God. And when our souls are filled with him and all his benefits, they overflow in worship. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1).
Big Enough to Forgive You
One sin is no small thing. Absolutely any offense against the holiness and love of God deserves death. God is no good to us if he is not perfect in all his ways and just in all his judgments. He must deal with any denial of or insult to himself. No one is able to remedy their own rebellion against him because all stand condemned before him. But God has proven that his love, power, and justice are bigger than our sin. Through Christ, he is able to forgive and conquer all of our iniquity — every rebel thought or fear or deed. He redeems us from the pit, restoring undeserving us to himself.
Big Enough to Heal You
God has made our bodies weak and fragile mediums for life. They each last for a very, very short window in history, and decay slowly day by day. Injuries slow some. Chronic pain or disease plagues others. Old age creeps. Everything about us is broken because of sin, and we need to be made new. This God is big enough to heal all your diseases. No condition is too severe for him, no symptoms too extreme, no diagnosis too grave.
The healings he performed in the Bible were to demonstrate his power. He can make whole in an instant, and he will — perhaps for a time in this life, but without question in the one to come. We serve a great, mighty, kind, and compassionate healer. “By his wounds we have been healed” (2 Peter 1:24). For all of us who love him as Lord and Savior, and value him as their greatest Treasure, he has healed our sinful hearts, and he promises one day to give us new bodies, ones that will never be sick or broken or disabled again.
Big Enough to Satisfy You
But this God is not just about canceling our sin, defeating death for us, and renewing our bodies. No, he is big enough and good enough to fill the God-sized hole in our desires. Nothing in this world can fulfill us like him, and he wants to see us really, really happy in him. He satisfies us with good, and he is the greatest, sweetest, best good he can give us. So we sing, “I believe you’re my portion. I believe you’re more than enough for me. Jesus, you’re all I need.”
The God who forgives and heals and redeems and crowns and satisfies is a great God, One worthy of blessing and honor and praise. When our souls are prone to forget all that he is for us now in Jesus, we need to remember again all of his benefits. And as we see him big and good in all those benefits — nothing is impossible for the One who works for us — we can rest in and worship our Healer and Redeemer.
Play in these Chord Shapes
