July 28
“Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” (Psalm 103:1-5)
Praising God with all that is in us, recalling the life He has provided for us in Christ Jesus and the hell He has delivered us from is something we ought to recall and practice regularly. But David also tells us to “forget none of his benefits” and mentions things that are lesser blessings and nice to have if God chooses to provide them, but not essentials. And I think it is important to keep these clear in our minds, because all too often we grumble and complain and have ungrateful spirits because we don’t keep them clear in our minds.
What I am talking about is the failure to differentiate the huge, essential things from the lesser, unessential things. In David’s psalm he mentions pardoning of all your iniquities and redeeming your life from the pit. I take these as references to salvation and eternal life. If we have Christ, we have it all. If we have God’s pardon for our past, present, and future sins, if we will spend eternity with Him in His holy presence, we have everything we need, whether He gives us anything else in this life or not, we are good. Think about the flip side, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” If you didn’t have eternal life, what would it matter to have all the health and material blessings this world has to offer?
What if God didn’t “heal all your diseases,” or “crown you with lovingkindness and compassion” or “satisfy your years with good things” or renew your youthfulness? There are plenty of Christians who have incurable diseases, who are persecuted and enslaved, who are treated as the dregs and refuse of the earth, who live in almost total poverty and with no earthly possessions. Does God not love them? What if God withholds some of these things from you? Will you grumble and complain? Will you focus on your lack? Will you be negative and critical and envious of those Christians who do? Will you suspect that God loves you less and is punishing you?
We have to realize that if we have Christ, we have everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. In Him we have so much more than any earthly blessings of health and wealth. And I would say that His withholding some earthly blessing from you is His way of directing you to find all your joy in Him. This is what is so harmful about the health and wealth messages you hear today, that if you aren’t healthy and prosperous you are somehow deficient in your faith or obedience. What garbage! Just look at the lives of Jesus or Paul to see how foolish that teaching is. What harm these false teachers cause to our well-being, because they get us focused on earthly things that we think we need to make us comfortable and puff up our boastful pride of life. If I have Christ, if His Spirit is abiding in me and I am sealed for eternity in Him, I have it all. I am blessed beyond my ability to comprehend it. I have more than all the world’s fame and fortune.
This is what we need to see clearly and effectively give thanks, I believe. We have to differentiate the huge blessings from the little blessings. Some of us whine and complain because we don’t have the little blessings, and we make them almost as important as the big things. We lose sight of the big picture, of what reality in Christ is and how much we truly have been blessed in Christ. Give thanks for all things, big and small. Count all the blessings that God gives and name each one. But don’t fall into the trap of failing to give thanks for the huge things when we don’t get all of the little things we may want.
Bless the Lord with everything you’ve got, each and every day.