Hey Soul! Praise the LORD!

What does it mean to worship God?

What does it mean to praise God?

Worship and praise are words that we use all the time here in church.

They're words that we sing.

They're words that we read in our Bibles.

But what exactly are we talking about?

This morning we're going to look back to the words of David

to be reminded of what worship is all about.

We're in Psalm 103.

So if you have your Bible with you, please open it up to Psalm 103.

We will have some scriptures on the screen,

but here at the beginning it'll be easy to follow along

if you have it open in front of you.

We also have those black ones, Bibles, in the seats in front of you

if you left yours at home.

Psalm 103 is one of the most cherished Psalms in the Bible.

It's right up there with Psalm 23.

And for people who memorize Psalms,

this is one of the common ones to memorize.

Many Christians will tell you that they love this Psalm.

And we'll see why this morning.

Let me read it for us.

Of David.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

All my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, 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 eagles.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger,

abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

For he knows how we are formed.

He remembers that we are dust.

The life of mortals is like grass.

They flourish like a flower of the field.

The wind blows over it and it is gone.

And its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting,

the Lord's love is with those who fear him

and his righteousness with their children's children,

with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven

and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,

you, his servants who do his will.

Praise the Lord, all his works,

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Now this Psalm of David is a little difficult

to divide up into sections

because there's a sense in which

it's all about one thing

from start to finish.

So we're gonna kind of trace out the flow

and if you're still looking at your Bible,

just kind of follow along here

as I touch on a few of these verses.

It begins in verse one with David saying,

praise the Lord, my soul.

And if you take a quick glance over verses one to five,

we see that David is here reflecting

on the various ways that God has been good

to him personally.

Then in verse six,

David expands this a little bit

and he reflects on how God has been good,

not just to him, but to all the oppressed.

Then in verses seven and eight,

he expands it again,

reflecting on how God has shown

his loving kindness to the whole nation,

all Israel, the people of Israel, to Moses.

In verses 13 to 18,

he reflects on God's father-like compassion

and the everlastingness of God's love for his people.

Then in verse 19,

it's about how God is sovereign,

ruling over all.

And then David ends by calling the angels

in all creation to praise God.

And finally, he calls his own soul,

once again, to praise the Lord.

He ends where he started.

So that's the flow of this psalm.

Now, let's dig into it a little bit

and learn what we can about what it means

to worship and praise God.

We'll start with the very first verses.

David says,

Praise the Lord, my soul.

All my inmost being praise his holy name.

So David begins with an imperative.

The word praise here is a command.

He's telling someone to praise the Lord.

Who is he telling to praise the Lord?

Now, this might sound strange to us,

but David is telling his own soul

to praise the Lord.

He's commanding his own inmost being

to praise his holy name.

So David is speaking to himself.

Now, you might think that you're weird sometimes

for talking to yourself,

but probably all of us do this from time to time.

David is doing it right here.

He's telling himself to praise God.

In verse 2,

he's telling himself not to forget

all the good things that God has given to him

and done for him.

And then the rest of this psalm

is basically just David

telling himself specifically

about all the good things

that God has done to him,

to the oppressed,

to Israel,

to those who fear God,

and remembering all of that

brings him back again to praise.

So as we look at these first couple verses here,

there's a few things to talk about.

Let's hit our main question

right on the head,

right here early on.

What does it mean to praise the Lord?

The word here for praise means to commend.

It means to acknowledge

something excellent about someone.

We could praise a child

for their good behavior.

We know how hard it is

for children to sit still

for a long time.

Where the other day,

as I was talking to my dad

about the thing with his eye,

I was sharing my highest regards

for my optometrist.

She's just awesome at what she does.

She stands out among doctors.

One of the best doctors

I've ever been to.

And so what I was saying

to my dad about her,

that was my praise for her.

We could praise a work of art.

Isn't that beautiful?

Look at the colors.

Look at the light.

Look at the way the artist did that.

And the key thing about praise

is that it has to have words.

I looked at praise in the dictionary,

the Canadian Oxford Dictionary,

the most modern one,

and it says this.

It says praise is to express approval

or admiration of.

And then the second definition given,

to glorify God in words.

So praise isn't praise without words.

Now, we might want to fight over this a little bit.

Isn't praise a feeling?

Can't I praise God without words?

Well, there's a sense in which,

yes, that's true.

But there is a distinction here.

That feeling of admiration,

that awe of God,

is what leads to praise.

It itself isn't praise.

It's the overflow

of that admiration,

of that awe of God in here

that gives rise to praise.

Think of going to a restaurant

and you're eating a tasty meal

and it was cooked just perfectly.

And inside,

you just have this appreciation

to the cook,

knowing that there's somebody

back there slaving away

in the kitchen

and he did it just right.

You feel thankful to the cook

for making it so good,

but you haven't actually thanked the cook

until you have said words to him.

That's true when it comes to praising God.

There has to be words.

Now, our praise doesn't have to be said out loud

because God,

he can hear our thoughts.

He knows the very things that we're thinking.

So we can praise God quietly

in our own minds,

in our own hearts.

But praise has to have words.

It has to be saying something to God

about who he is

or what he has done.

The next thing that we notice here

is where praise should come from.

David says,

Praise the Lord my soul,

all my inmost being.

Praise his holy name.

Have you ever come to church

and sang through all the songs,

but at the same time,

you felt like it was all

just coming out of here?

But not here.

David is a musician.

He's a singer,

songwriter,

harpist,

maybe one of the best in Israel,

hired by the king

to play for the king.

I'm going to guess that he knew

just how easy it is

to let skill

and habit

carry the performance

even when his heart wasn't in it.

How easy is it for us to do that?

To pray before the meal

because that's what we always do.

But are we really thankful to God

for the food that he has given us to eat?

And that's where I think this psalm gets real.

David doesn't just want to say

the right things about God.

He doesn't just want to sing another song

about God

if his heart's not in it.

He wants his praise and worship

to come out of that deepest part of him.

His soul.

His inmost being.

I love that phrase.

The deepest depths of who he is.

No holding back.

All my inmost being.

Not just some of it

but all of it.

No reservations.

Full flow.

Heartfelt praise.

And it's here that we maybe get a sense

that worship doesn't always come easily.

Sometimes it's a fight

to praise God from here

and not just here.

Look at verse 2.

David says

Praise the Lord my soul

and forget not

all his benefits.

Why does David tell himself

not to forget

the good things that God has given him

or done for him?

Because David has experienced this.

And probably all of us

have experienced it as well.

We so easily lose sight

of God's goodness.

to us.

We lose sight

of his love for us.

We get so focused in

on our circumstances

and things that are not going well in life

and stuff that's happening

out there in the world.

And we feel the pressures

and the stresses

and the problems

and we have these anxious thoughts

that just keep coming back.

And suddenly

it's like

when's the last time

I felt joy?

When's the last time

I just enjoyed

that reality

that God loves me?

We let all these

other things

crowd

the truth

of who he is

and how he loves us

out.

It's like we've forgotten

the goodness

and the kindness

of God.

So this is

David probably

in the midst

of some

circumstances

shouting at his soul

hey soul

listen

don't forget

all the ways

God has

given to you

his benefits

the good things

that he's done

don't forget

remember them

sometimes we need

to do this

we need to

sit ourselves

down

and give ourselves

a good spiritual

talking to

this is maybe

one of the most

neglected

spiritual disciplines

the one that's

least mentioned

in all the books

and from here on

David begins

to spell

them all out

all the benefits

of the Lord

he acknowledges

with words

the good things

God has done

this is his

praise

and he starts

with the things

that God has

done for him

personally

let's look at

this in verses

3 to 5

praise the Lord

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

eagles

what's the

first benefit

that comes

to David's

mind

he has

forgiven

all

my sins

and then

from there

he has

healed

all

my

diseases

now we

don't even

know what

David's

talking about

here

specifically

what kind

of diseases

what kind

of sicknesses

did he have

it's not

really mentioned

in the

narrative

about David

and neither

do I think

David is saying

that God

will heal

everybody's

diseases

all of them

whenever or as

soon as they

ask

this part of

the song is

very personal

for David

I think what

he's saying

is God

up until now

you have

healed all

my diseases

all my

sicknesses

he's praising

God

for his

good health

in verse

four

David praises

God for

saving his

life

you redeemed

me from the

pit

and I

think that's

poetic

that's

metaphorical

language

I was

I was in

deep trouble

and you

rescued me

out of it

and

you crowned

me

with love

and compassion

I like

this

if the

first half

of verse

four

has David

down in the

pit

here in the

second half

he is lifted

up

he's exalted

to the

status of

king

it's like

he's saying

I went

from way

down

here

in the

pit

to way

up here

on the

throne

and for

David

it's the

love

and the

compassion

of God

that has

done this

it's not

his cunning

or skill

or hard

work

or

political

maneuvering

it's

compassion

like

Lord

you look

down on

me

and that

lowly

and desperate

state

and your

heart

went out

to me

with compassion

and you

lifted me

up out

of that

you redeemed

me from

that

you put

me on

the throne

you put

the crown

on my

head

in verse

five

David

says

I praise

you for

you've been

the one

to satisfy

my desires

with good

things

you've been

the one

to renew

my youth

you've

strengthened

me

with that

youthful

vigor

and energy

that I

once

had

as David

reflects back

on how God

has treated

him

it's like

he's

acknowledging

God

you haven't

been stingy

with me

you haven't

withheld

from me

all the good

things that I

have

things that I've

desired

I've gotten

as a gift

from you

from your

generous

heart

from your

gracious

hands

and I

love this

line about

how

so that

your youth

is renewed

like the

eagles

now it's up

for debate

exactly what

the eagle

part means

apparently

eagles go

through this

process of

they call

molting

where they

actually grow

new feathers

at some

point in

their life

could that

be what

David

means

like you're

giving me

a fresh

a refreshing

new

feathers

to fly

with

or

is it

that he

felt

so heavy

so weighed

down by the

things that

had been

going on

in his

life

but God

graciously

renewed

his youth

making him

light

and carefree

able to

soar

again

like an

eagle

whatever

the meaning

it sounds

pretty good

to me

would you

like to

have your

youth

renewed

I do

God can

do that

and he

did it

for David

so David

first praises

God for

all these

personal

things that

God

has been

good

to him

loving to

him

with

and

as I

mentioned

earlier

now David

in verse

six

he widens

this

to express

praise

for how

God

has been

good

not just

to him

but to

others

to all

the oppressed

the Lord

works righteousness

and justice

for all

the oppressed

I'm not

going to

unpack all

of that

that's

that's a

whole bunch

of stuff

in there

except to

say that

probably

how he

gets to

saying this

is because

he himself

has been

one

of the

oppressed

think back

to his

story

and how

Saul

was hunting

him down

chasing

him all

over

Israel

it's a

great

distress

then in

verses

seven

to eight

David

widens

some

more

and now

it's how

God has

been good

to Moses

and the

people of

Israel

now we're

talking about

the whole

nation

and

this

piece of

his song

points back

to a moment

in Israel's

history

after wandering

a little bit

in the wilderness

they came to

Mount Sinai

this was after

they had left

Egypt

and it

was there

that God

revealed

himself

to Moses

and to

the people

and Moses

was up on

the mountain

and he

asked God

he said

Lord

show me

your ways

show me

your glory

and in

response

it says

that God

made his

glory

to pass

by

Moses

and as

he did

he declared

his own

name

to Moses

and

verse

eight

the second

half

of what

you see

on the

screen

there

is

what

God

said

that's

the words

that he

declared

to Moses

as he

passed

by

the Lord

is

compassionate

and

gracious

slow

to

anger

abounding

in love

this is

just a

little

trivial

detail

from the

grammar

guy

in me

but I

love the

way

that the

parallelism

works

here

these

things

that God

declared

about

himself

to

Moses

they

weren't

just

words

these

things

about

the

Lord

also

describe

his

deeds

to the

people

of

Israel

it's

both

he

made

known

his

ways

to

Moses

his

deeds

to

the

people

of

Israel

the

Lord

is

compassionate

and

gracious

slow

to

anger

abounding

in

love

in

other

words

David

is

saying

yes

God

spoke

of

his

goodness

to

Moses

but

he

proved

it

by

how

he

treated

Israel

time

and

time

again

this

is

like

a

precious

bit

of

inspired

commentary

from

David

what

David

is

saying

is

that

you

can

go

back

you

can

read

the

whole

story

of

Israel

and

all

of

it

shows

again

and

again

just

how

compassionate

God

is

how

gracious

how

slow

to

anger

how

abounding

in love

for those

of you

who are

working

your way

through the

Bible

again

this year

this is

what we

should be

looking for

as we

read through

the Old

Testament

it's all

over the

place

the story

of God's

compassion

in fact

the whole

Bible

not just

the Old

Testament

it's a story

of God's

compassion

how

he

is

gracious

slow

to

anger

abounding

in

love

David

will

go

on

merciful

forgiving

I

mean

each

one

of

these

qualities

of

God

we

could

probably

do

a

whole

sermon

series

on

them

but

from

verse

8

let's

look

at

just

one

the

Lord

is

slow

to

anger

let's

meditate

on

this

do

you

know

anyone

who

is

quick

to

get

angry

do

you

know

anyone

how

does

it

feel

to

be

around

a

person

that

is

quick

to

get

angry

maybe

like

treading

on

ice

in

the

presence

of

a

ticking

time

bomb

God

is

not

like

that

he

is

slow

to

anger

and

his

anger

is

a

righteous

anger

which

means

that

he

loves

what

is

good

and

right

so

much

that

he

only

ever

gets

angry

when

he

sees

evil

sin

corruption

injustice

it's

an

anger

that's

fully

100%

justified

and

think

about

this

if

God

is

slow

to

anger

that

means

that

he's

what

patient

with

sinners

like

you

and

like

me

sometimes

we

might

get

this

wonky

idea

that

God

is

something

like

the

rage

monster

from

Dude

Perfect

that

he's

just

got

this

alternate

side

of

him

that

just

comes

out

of

nowhere

and

gets

mad

at

the

most

trivial

things

or

maybe

we

see

it

more

like

the

Hulk

from

the

comics

once

he

gets

going

he's

just

so

angry

that

he

just

wants

to

smash

everything

in sight

and

lose

control

completely

and

if

and

he

he's

not

always

green

like

that

he

usually

just

looks

like

an

ordinary

human

but

when

he

gets

angry

he

gets

all

big

and

green

and

starts

smashing

everything

but

in

his

calmer

moments

when

he

looks

like

an

ordinary

human

being

in

one

of

the

movies

somebody

asked

him

so

something

about

how he

feels

or

something

and

he

says

you

know

to

tell

you

the

truth

I'm

always

angry

but

no

God

is

not

like

this

at

all

he

is

slow

to

anger

which

means

that

he's

not

always

angry

anger

is

not

the

default

he's

not

prone

to

just

burst

out

in

a

rage

now

maybe

at

this

point

some

of

you

might

be

thinking

of

those

few

moments

when

God's

anger

does

seem

to

flare

up

quickly

in

the

Bible

but

if

you

think

about

those

cases

usually

it's

a

very

serious

sin

usually

it's

done

publicly

and

usually

it's

done

by

a

person

in

leadership

or

someone

usurping

trying to

steal

into

a person

a role

of

leadership

God

seems

to hold

leaders

to a

higher

standard

because

all

the

people

are

watching

them

they're

following

their

example

but

think

for a

moment

of

the

story

of

Israel

from

this

time

that

David

is

speaking

of

at

Mount

Sinai

where

he

warns

them

about

turning

away

from

him

and

living

wicked

lives

until

the

time

when

he

finally

gives

them

over

to

being

conquered

and

sends

them

away

into

exile

how

many

years

did

God

bear

with

them

not

quite

but

almost

a

thousand

how

many

prophets

had

he

sent

to

warn

them

and

to

call

them

to

turn

back

to

repent

to

be

restored

to

be

forgiven

so

many

it's

difficult

to

even

count

them

all

they

don't

even

all

have

their

own

book

of

the

Bible

God's

patience

is

awesome

when

you're

reading

through

your

Bible

and

you

feel

like

the

Old

Testament

man

this

is

a

long

thing

when

are

we

going

to

get

to

the

New

Testament

think

it's

long

because

God's

patience

is

awesome

I

read a

book

a while

back

where a

guy just

encouraged

us to

really

stop

and

think

about

how

God

is

slow

to

anger

and

he

compared

this

aspect

of

God

with

some

of

his

other

attributes

like

his

love

is

there

anywhere

in the Bible

where it says

that God

is slow

to love

in fact

it's the

opposite

it says

that God

is

love

nowhere that I

know of in the Bible

does it say that

God's love

is provoked

his love is like a

light that is

always on

but his

anger

must be

kindled

it must

be

stirred

up

provoked

and even

there

it's a

slow

thing

God

is

patient

he has

such

great

compassion

and mercy

towards

sinners

he is

patient

he would

far

rather

see

us

repent

turn

to him

and be

forgiven

than give

us the

punishment

that we

deserve

verse 9

he will not

always accuse

nor will he

harbor his

anger

forever

I love

this

just glance

down

now to

verse 17

this is

quite the

contrast

in verse 17

he says

from everlasting

to everlasting

the Lord's

love

is with

those

who fear

him

so his

anger

temporary

he does

get angry

at times

but it

doesn't

last

it goes

away

but his

love

never

ending

everlasting

towards

those who

fear him

what a

contrast

verse 10

he does

not treat

us

as our

sins

deserve

or repay

us

according

to our

iniquities

for as

high as

the heavens

are above

the earth

so great

is his

love

for those

who fear

him

so David

praises

God for

his

mercy

we've all

done

things

we've all

sinned

we've all

we all

have

iniquities

and we

deserve a

certain

punishment

from God

for those

sins

but because

God is

merciful

he doesn't

want to

give us

what our

sins

deserve

and David

goes on to

describe

just

how great

God's

love is

verse 11

he says

as high

as the

heavens are

above the

earth

so great

is his

love

for those

who fear

him

now I

don't know

that David

really knew

how true

his words

were

how high

did he

think they

were up

there

in his

day

but as I

said last

week

scientists

still haven't

found the

edges

of the

heavens

of the

universe

the number

the distance

between here

and the

farthest

out there

that we

even know

of is

such a

big number

we can't

even comprehend

it

it's so

many miles

times ten

to the

power of

a really

big number

if you

remember

back to

math

we can't

even

comprehend

that

we can't

even

fathom

it

and I

think

that's

the

point

the

greatness

of God's

love for

you

is

immeasurable

it's

incomprehensible

we can't

even begin

to

understand

it

now I

know

that I'm

only

halfway

through

the

psalm

here

and my

time's

almost

up

so we're

going to

save

the rest

of this

psalm

for you

to meditate

on this

week

there is

so much

more in

here

and with

the last

couple

minutes

I just

want to

take some

time to

help us

see how

this psalm

points us

to

Jesus

where is

Jesus

in this

psalm

that might

be the

wrong

question

to ask

perhaps a

better

question

for us

to reflect

on is

this

where is

this

psalm

seen

in

Jesus

my