August 15, 2022

Rhonda Patterson
“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:1-5

As I meditate on Psalm 103, I realize that I didn’t or couldn’t fully appreciate it in my younger years. For me, gaining a deeper understanding of what Christ had done for me came from experiencing many years of His grace and even a few pit experiences brought about by my own poor choices.

Charles Spurgeon said this very thing of David’s writing of this psalm, “Doubtless by David…we should attribute it to his later years when he had a higher sense of the preciousness of pardon, because of a keener sense of sin, than in his younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life indicates his weaker years, as also does the very fullness of his praiseful gratitude.”

Oh that we would embrace the “preciousness of pardon” and experience the weightlessness of shame lifted! Our praise and gratitude — our redemption coming full circle back to the One who made it possible — Jesus! Crowned in His love and compassion, we lay them at His feet saying, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11