NOV 7

Psalm 103
Memorise Psalm 103:1
“Bless the Lord O my soul …bless his holy name”

As born again believers, we are the most blessed people in the world because our sins have been forgiven and we are promised eternal life in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Here we can see that salvation is the greatest blessing that anyone can have, and the blessing of salvation can be likened to a gift which is of infinite value yet freely available to all who earnestly seek and accept it.

God not only blesses His people abundantly with all things great and small, He also showers blessings on the saved and unsaved, makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust alike through His common grace (Matthew 5:45). However, the word blessing in today’s reading refers not to bestowing favour or gifts graciously but to give praise, seeing that we cannot give to God anything that does not already belong to Him. Rather, we render due praise to God, the Giver of all good gifts and blessings.

The original Hebrew word for ‘bless’ has the root idea of kneeling. That is the posture that we would adopt before Him as we bow before Him in humble adoration. When we ‘bless’ God, we are not actually imparting anything to Him. Rather, we are expressing our adoration and praise to God for all that He has done for us.

To praise is not just to speak well of but also to exalt. We bless the Lord by exalting Him to others whenever the opportunity arises. We bless His holy name during worship and prayer. We exalt Him in our testimony to others not just verbally but also by the way we live our lives. We praise God for being the loving and merciful yet righteous God that He is, and in so doing, we are blessing the Lord and His holy name.

Thought: We remember (are grateful to) the Lord by blessing Him who blesses us freely and abundantly.

Prayer: O Lord, I bless Thee from the depths of my soul because Thou has crowned me with lovingkindness and tender mercies.