Day 5: Forget not all His benefits
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits (Psalm 103:2).
God of blessing and abundance, human language cannot capture the measure of Your love, Your goodness, Your provision, Your kindness, Your generosity. Everything about You speaks of bounty and benevolence, plenty and profusion.
From the dawn of creation You have given lavishly, unstintingly: You ordered the water to teem with living creatures (Genesis 1:20); You created the heavens and the earth in all their vast array (Genesis 2:1). And You lavished great love on us through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and called us children of God (1 John 3:1).
David, in Psalm 103, centers his soul on praise and worship as, with great intention, he lists blessing after blessing, favor after favor. And in contemplating Your overflowing grace, Your limitless love, and Your bountiful care, he expressed similar thoughts as he poured out praise in his psalm:
You care for the land and water it; You enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water…You drench its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing (Psalm 65:9-13).
O Lord, The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, You call forth songs of joy. The hymnwriter expresses it so well—Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise... *
Father, not just today, but every day, help us to center our own souls on You, in worship and praise. Help us to pray unceasingly, giv[ing] thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). Help us to practice daily gratitude from the heart, as we follow David's example of teaching the soul:
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits... (Psalm 103:1-2).
* (Robert Robinson—Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing—1758).
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