OPINION —
Psalm 103 was my wife’s favorite of David’s songs. She loved it. She memorized it. More than once I heard her recite all 22 verses as the basis of her testimony or a message.
Dean grew up reading and loving the King James Version of the Bible. We learned to appreciate modern translations, but we always preferred the KJV for that was the version we had memorized. So when Dean began quoting Psalm 103, she spoke with obvious gratitude for words that were precious to her:
1) Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3) Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4) Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; 5) Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Since Dean’s death in 2020, when I read this Psalm, I can hear Dean’s voice in my mind. And I remember how she spent time expounding on David’s admonition to “forget not all his benefits.” She would remind her listeners to remember how the Lord had blessed us with forgiveness for “all” our sins, how we had been healed of many diseases, redeemed from “the pit” of sin, crowned with God’s love and compassion, and had our youth renewed “like the eagle’s.” Dean helped us reflect on the goodness of God in our own lives.
I was sometimes in tears as Dean reminded us to remember, and not forget, the nature of our heavenly Father as David described him:
8) The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9) He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10) He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11) For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12) As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13) Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
Dean loved the idea that God loves us like a father loves his children. Her own father died when she was seven, but she loved to share fond childhood memories of her father’s love — how he sang “You are my Sunshine” to her and how he cooked sweet potatoes on an open fireplace. It was inspiring to hear her share how the Lord had “redeemed” her from the sorrow of her dad’s death.
Tenderly Dean would invite us to give thanks that God remembers the brevity of our lives and comforts us with the assurance of His everlasting mercy:
14) For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 15) As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16) For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17) But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; 18) To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. 19) The Lord has established his throne in heaven,and his kingdom rules over all.
David concludes his Psalm as he begins it, with the invitation to join with the angels and all God’s servants in proclaiming:
20) Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 21) Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. 22) Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.
David and Dean blessed the Lord. They did not forget the gracious and undeserved benefits of his mercy. So you and I can let Psalm 103 inspire us to remember with gratitude, not some but all the benefits of God’s compassion for His children. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
