Good morning Jeanette,
Let’s start the day off by doing a study on the first part of Psalms 103.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.”
— Psalm 103:1-3
In this Psalm David calls on his soul to bless the LORD—and by soul he means not just the non-material part of his nature, but his entire person.
Spirit, soul, and body are cued in to bless the holy name of Yahweh.
In this Psalm we are being called to worship God with a significant added reminder that we should forget not all His benefits.
It is a needed reminder because all too often we do forget.
We forget to thank Him for soundness of body, soundness of mind, sight, hearing, speech, appetite, and a host of other mercies, which we take too much for granted.
But above all else, we should be thankful to Him for forgiving all our iniquities.
It is an unspeakable miracle of divine grace that crimson sins can be made whiter than snow.
I can empathize with the man who chose one word for his tombstone—FORGIVEN.
And also with the Irishman who said, “The Lord Jesus has forgiven me all my sins, and He’s never going to hear the end of it.”
To know that our sins have been put away forever by the precious blood of Christ—well, it’s just too much to take in.
The second benefit to be remembered is the healing of ALL our diseases.
Before we get into the problem that this raises, let us notice that healing comes after forgiveness.
The physical is closely related to the spiritual.
While not all sickness is a direct result of sin, some of it is.
Where the connection exists, forgiveness must precede healing.
But the obvious problem is still there.
The verse says “ … who heals ALL your diseases.”
Yet as a matter of practical experience we know that not all diseases are healed, that we will all die sooner or later if the Lord does not come in the meantime.
So what does the verse mean?
In seeking an answer, we would make the following observations.
First, all genuine healing is from God.
If you have been sick, and then have recovered, you can thank God for your recovery because He is the source of all healing.
One of the names of God in the Old Testament is Jehovah Rophi—the Lord your Healer.
Every instance of true healing comes from Him.
Second, the Lord is able to heal all kinds of diseases.
There is no such a thing with Him as an incurable disease.
Third, the Lord can heal by the use of natural means over a period of time or He can heal miraculously and instantly.
No limit can be placed on His power to heal.
Fourth, when He was on earth the Lord actually healed ALL that were brought to Him (Matt. 8:16).
Fifth, during the Millennium He will actually heal all diseases (Isa. 33:24; Jer. 30:17) except in the case of those who rebel against Him (Isa. 65:20b).
The point is that whenever a believer is healed, this is a mercy from God, and He should be acknowledged and thanked as the Healer.
God wants to heal you, but not just you alone; He also wants to heal EVERYONE who is sick.
That was the reason for the 39 Stripes that were applied to His back!
Not only does He heal diseases, He also redeems our lives from the Pit, or destruction.
Of course, this can be applied to His saving us from going down to hell.
But I think that the meaning here is rather that He continually delivers us from dangers, accidents, tragedies and thus from going down to the grave.
Only when we get to heaven will we realize how often we were protected by the personal intervention of our God from premature death.
I have my own testimony about this, which I have shared with you in the past, in how I was given a message, through a Word of Knowledge, from Dick Mills, about my accident and how God sent an angel and snatched me out of the hands of Satan.
This question often arises among believers, “Why do bad things often happen to good people – God’s people?”
Max Lucado has an interesting approach to this question:
How do we explain tragedy?
Maybe God messed up.
Cancer cells crept into your DNA when He wasn’t looking.
He was so occupied with the tornado in Kansas that he forgot the famine in Uganda.
He tried to change the stubborn streak in your spouse but just couldn’t get him to budge.
Honestly. A bumbling Creator?
An absentminded Maker?
What evidence does Scripture provide to support such a view?
What evidence does creation offer?
Can’t the Maker of heaven and earth handle bad traffic and prevent bad marriages?
Of course He can. Then why doesn’t He?
Perhaps He is mad. Have we so exhausted the mercy of God’s bank account that every prayer bounces like a bad check?
Did humanity cross the line millenniums ago, and now we’re getting what we deserve?
Such an argument carries a dash of merit.
God does leave us to the consequences of our stupid decisions.
Think Egyptian soldiers in Red Sea,
Hebrews in Babylon, Peter weeping with the sound of a crowing rooster in his ears.
Bang your head against the wall, and expect a headache.
God lets us endure the fruit of sin. But to label Him peeved and impatient?
To do so you need to scissor from your Bible some tender passages such as:
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:8–11).
[From It’s Not About Me, by Max Lucado]
Let’s pray Psalm 103 together:
Jeanette, let’s make Psalm 103 our prayer today; let us pray this prayer throughout the day, and maintain an attitude of praise and gratitude in all our activities!
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
Thank you Jesus that your mercies are new every morning, and I thank you also in advance for healing my beautiful friend and sister, and making her whole.
Jeanette, if Loving You Is a crime, then I am certainly guilty.
You are the sweetest and most wonderful woman I’ve ever known.
I love you and think the world of you, and that’s been true since the first day I met you.
No strings here, just a lot of love!
This is why you’re in my heart and in my prayers everyday!
Whatever I have to do to see you through to Victory and to see you whole and well, you are worth it to me and much more!
You are ALWAYS a blessing and for me to know you is to love you and I can’t do anything else, and that’s the reason why I’m so devoted to you.
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SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 