Bless the <\/i>Lord<\/i>, O my soul,<\/i> and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits\u2026Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.<\/i> Psalm 103:1-2; 4b<\/p>\n
When you train yourself to bless the Lord, you align yourself with His purposes. You may not be clear as to what those specific purposes for you are, but when you step out of your feelings, logic, and the fast pace of life to give God the honor He deserves, He has a way of depositing \u00a0understanding into your being, thereby empowering you to make wise decisions.<\/p>\n
His benefits are not subject to the erratic conditions of our age or the particulars of your situation. His benefits are rock-solid because He<\/i> is rock-solid.<\/p>\n
David the psalmist commanded himself to bless the Lord. He commanded all<\/i> that was within him\u2014mind, will, and emotions\u2014to bless the Lord\u2019s holy name. He required himself to forget none of the benefits of the Lord. Yes, David was tremendously successful, but he was also tremendously tempted and attacked. It was due to his strict dedication to bless God and to forget none of His benefits that, when all was said and done in his life, it could be honestly recorded of him in Acts 13:22, \u201cI have found David<\/i> the son of Jesse, <\/i>a man after My<\/i> own <\/i>heart,<\/i> who will do all My will.<\/i>\u201d Even after the enormous failures of his life, David left a testimony that he was a <\/i>man after God\u2019s own heart who would do all His will. Why? Because<\/i> he commanded himself to bless the Lord and to forget none of His benefits!<\/p>\n
The Lord pardons all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, and redeems your life from the pit. These benefits parallel beautifully with what Jesus accomplished for you on the cross, yet there is more. Remember, every benefit David enumerated was merely a shadow of what we have been privileged to possess in Christ. We have the better covenant, based on better promises (see Hebrews 8:6).<\/p>\n
Included among the benefits of the Lord is this one: He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion<\/em> (Psalm 103:4b). Your sins are forgiven, you have access to His healing bounty, and you are absolutely redeemed from the pit of hell. And to top it off, He places a crown on your head of lovingkindness and compassion!<\/p>\n I see three streams flowing from this one benefit.<\/p>\n First of all is the crown<\/i> of lovingkindness and compassion. Your God views you, from the top of your head on down, with great favor and tender love. The crown of lovingkindness and compassion that He has placed upon you marks you as His and sets you apart. I have observed younger children on field trips wearing the same brightly colored T-shirts. This makes them\u00a0visible so their teachers can spot them without difficulty. The crown God has placed on your head makes you easily visible to Him; it separates you from the rest of the crowd and grants Him smooth access for dispensing His love and compassion upon you. If you are His, you are a recipient of His lovingkindness and compassion. Don\u2019t let yourself forget it.<\/p>\n