Psalm 103
August 2, 2020
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules,  I’ll reward you, and if you don’t, I’ll do the other thing.’ I do not think that is the best way of looking at it.”

~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“If you are selfish, and make yourself and your own private interests your idol, God will leave you to yourself, and let you promote your own interests as well as you can. But if you do not selfishly seek your own, but do seek the things that are Jesus Christ’s, and the things of your fellow human beings, then God will make your interest and happiness his own charge, and he is infinitely more able to provide for and promote it than you are. The resources of the universe move at his bidding, and he can easily command them all to subserve your welfare. So that, not to seek your own, in the selfish sense, is the best way of seeking your own in a better sense. It is the directest course you can take to secure your highest happiness.”

~Jonathan Edwards, Charity And Its Fruits

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

~William Ernest Henley, “Invictus”

“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone. In the second place, those blessings which unceasingly distill to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain. Here, again, the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent from our poverty.”

~John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Sermon Passage

Psalm 103 (ESV)

¹  Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
²  Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
³  who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴  who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵  who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶  The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷  He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸  The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹  He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward
those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion
to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
²² Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!