Whether you call it melancholy, depression, the blues, or the blahs, we all experience those feelings of why bother from time to time. I think that David of Old Testament fame felt that way as he began to write what we now call Psalm 103.
Psalm 103 begins, “Bless the Lord, my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits;” (Psalm 103:1–2, NASB 2020) It’s like David is talking to himself. Come on, soul, get with the program, and bless the Lord.
As I was considering this Psalm, I noticed that there seem to be five unasked questions that move the Psalm along its path. Borrowing from the five staves of musical notation, something Charles Dickens did for A Christmas Carol, we are going to consider those five questions in five staves. The first unspoken question occurs before the first words of the psalm are written. Where to begin?
We all have those moments. Something needs to be done. Something needs to be said. Something needs to change. Where to begin? How do we get started?
We often start with an airing of grievances, an explanation of the problem, or the worries and anxieties we see ahead. But David doesn’t start there. In Psalm 103, there are no grievances or laments. And yet David seems to be reminding himself about something in order to overcome its power over him.
Where to begin? Bless the Lord! Let me bless the Lord with everything in me: my thoughts, feelings, ambitions, desires, soul, spirit, and strength. Through the attitude of these words, David is setting a course. And I get the feeling that he didn’t feel it as he began to compose this psalm.
David seems to be saying something like this – Come on, soul, get out of your funk, push aside the blues, bless the Lord, and remember His goodness whether you feel like it or not. David seems to be commanding himself, giving himself some marching orders. We all need to do that sometime.
Many times in my experience, change began with a decision and declaration. What we focus on in that declaration matters. If we focus on our problems, we’ll stay stuck in the mud. If we lift our eyes from the mud, we often see a way up. Now, before we get too deep into the self-pride of I can do it, we must remember that while David was commanding himself, he was looking at the Lord. The answer to David’s problems wasn’t some form of self-help or mental visualization. It was a call to self to look to God and remember His benefits.
But what are His benefits? That is the unspoken question that launches Stave II.
- What Benefits? Psalm 103 Stave Two - July 3, 2024
- Pslam 103 – Stave One - July 1, 2024
- Between Promise and Redemption - June 26, 2024