Forget Not
Pops struggled with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for 15 years, but it didn’t slow him down until he neared the end. He mostly continued to live his life with faith and vigor. That is how my father-in-love wanted it. To live is Christ, and to die is gain was his mantra. He wanted to stay here on this earth doing the work of the Lord as long as he had energy to be productive. When he could no longer do that, he wanted to go Home, which he knew with assurance was far better.
We had just started to witness him getting more fatigued when he contracted Covid. Pops’s initial response to treatment with an infusion was good. But then he needed an inhaler, then home oxygen. With each treatment he would start to get better, and then a couple days later would get worse. I was on-call to contact if something happened that needed attention in the night.
One night I was called a couple of times but didn’t pick up. I never woke up to hear the call. Every other night I had remembered to take my phone off silent, but not this night. Pops fell going to the bathroom and my mother-in-love, Beammie, couldn’t lift him off the floor. She called. But I didn’t hear it.
Thankfully Beammie did not wait too long before calling EMS, and they quickly came to the rescue. From then on, the decision was made to call Eric for non-emergent needs. He couldn’t hear the phone ring when he took out his hearing aids, but he started keeping his watch on while he slept, and the vibration and lights were enough to shake him out of slumber.
I felt terrible. I still have the recording on my phone and occasionally torture myself with listening to her desperate cries for me to come. When I was needed most, I wasn’t available. I am usually very dependable. How could I forget to take my phone off silent?
It begins with Bless
This is our last passage in this series on Reflections from the Psalter. Psalm 103 is a beautiful and familiar Song that highlights the crucial need to forget not all the benefits of knowing the LORD.
It begins with Bless. This word y’all. I am thankful I have made reconciliation with it because it keeps coming up in The Psalter. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but here I am sitting in wonder, nonetheless. And I can’t get past the first verse without bowing my head in humble praise.
Part of what has me awestruck is who is doing the blessing to Whom. David is the author of Psalm 103. He affectionately praises the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe with admiration and gratitude and the Holy Spirit invites us to join in.1 Our King does not need our blessing, but He delights in it. Remember, LORD is Yahweh, the name for the covenant keeping God of true Isreal. It’s translated YHWH in Hebrew.2 They didn’t utter the vowels out of reverence. His Name is His character, Who He is, the self-existent Great I Am that spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:14 when He introduced Himself. And His Name is Holy, sacred and set apart from any defilement.
How and to what extent is David blessing the LORD? With his soul and all that is deep down within him, David is blessing the LORD’s Holy Name. David is saying he is taking all of his life and passion, every bit of who he is, and using it in this song of gratitude that celebrates the abundant goodness and love of the LORD for His people.3,4
Building Memorial Stones
David repeats the opening praise and then rouses himself to use his mind and memory to kindle his emotions.1
Why does he need to remind his soul to forget not?
When life is going great it is easy to praise, but when trials come I need help remembering why I praise the LORD. The benefits are many and I do well to build memorial stones along the way to help me in the crucial step of remembering what I am prone to forget in my grief, anxiety, or even apathy.
The LORD is very active in His benefits2 as He:
- forgives all of our sin
- heals every one of our diseases
- redeems our life from the eternal pit of corruption
- beautifies and dignifies us with crowns of His steadfast love and mercy
- satisfies us with good nourishment.
Each of these benefits could be studied more thoroughly. They start at the point of salvation and have continuing results throughout eternity. We cannot separate body, soul, and spirit. The disease of sin corrupts our whole person.3 Because of this, without a rescue that paid a ransom price, we would be headed for destruction. 2 Samuel 12 tells us David knows full well of what he is speaking here. We covered his sin with Bathsheba when we studied Psalm 51. As egregious as that sin was and our sin is, God’s character would not allow Him to leave us there. We wear His steadfast love and mercy as a paradise crown as we get a glimpse here of all the eternal beauty to come.4
AS we remember
As we forget not the LORD’s benefits, a miracle happens. AS we are remembering and choosing to be thankful and praising the LORD, He renews our youth, strong and soaring like an eagle.
Have you ever heard, ”youth is wasted on the young?” As I get older, I am learning what that means. When I was younger, I had all the vitality of youth but none of the wisdom I have gained as I have matured in Christ. As I have grown, I know God more fully and the peaceful perspective and discernment that comes with maturity, but I don’t always have the same physical vitality to fully enjoy the wisdom I lacked when I was younger. David is saying, in God’s presence you can have both wisdom and vitality. I am signing up for that!
Please join me next week as I reflect on claiming these benefits to use as part of a greater community.
103 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 forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Psalm 103 ESV
- Derek Kidner, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Volume 16, Psalm 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. London: Intervarsity Press, 1975.
- Amplified Bible. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation. Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyrightc 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
- Eugene Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, NavPress, 2005. Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
