The Proper Perspective
Psalm 103: 11-22
11 For as the heavens are high 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 he removes our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish 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 bidding, obedient to his spoken word. 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
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I am so familiar with this Psalm. It has been the “Birthday Psalm” in my family, a tradition that was set by my grandfather. Good one. I would recommend it. Just look at its words. I use the word “look” deliberately. This is a very visual Psalm.
I’m looking at this section of Psalm 103 today in a whole new light. It’s giving me a whole new perspective. I think I’m getting a real appreciation for the Word of God as a living word. It just doesn’t get stale. It’s alive, and breathing. And, if you let it, it will help you live. Keep you alive when there might be reason to die.
I love the visuals that this psalm provides, and how they illustrate who we are, who God is and how He relates to us. Do you see? Next time I look up at the heavens, and see how far away they are, I will think “Wow. That’s how much God loves me with His steadfast love!” And my vision will probably start to blur as I consider such love. It’s almost beyond our imagination, that kind of love, both in its steadfastness and it’s enormity.
The dictionary definition of steadfast is: Not subject to change. So, there you have it. God’s love for us is not subject to change. Period. It doesn’t matter how much we change; how low we sink, how much our love for Him cools, or even disappears; or even if it turns to hate. All that is irrelevant to the Lord’s steadfast love towards us. And the enormity of it is staggering! As far as the heavens are from the earth! Wow. Do you know such love? You can. The Lord loves you and me that much. Steadfastly. This is what the Apostle Paul talks about when he is “convinced” that “ neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39)
Wow.
When we encounter such love – the kind of love that will not separate itself from you, no matter what -- it is impossible not to respond. It is impossible not to have our hearts melt. Fight it all you want, in the end, it proves irresistible. I think the Lord of the heavens and the earth wants us to know Him like that. And, wants us to respond to His love with delight.
Look what He has done for us. Look at how He relates to us.
As far as the east is from the west, the Psalmist sings, “so far he removes our transgressions from us.” That’s a great distance! First, He loves us, then He removes our transgressions from us, so far that we are no longer associated with them. And then, the Lord is like a loving Father, “who has compassion for those who fear him.” I love how the issue of our transgressions is sandwiched between the Lord’s steadfast love and the Lord’s fatherly compassion.
Perhaps it’s because I need it now more than ever, that I am seeing what this Psalm offers in a whole new light.
Who am I? A transgressor. I am dust. My days are like grass. I wither away eventually. I am as fragile as a flower. All it takes is a wind to wipe away my existence. Then I’m gone. Forgotten.
Quite chastening those images! Rightly so. Puts me in my place, which is not a bad thing because in it all, I am still loved steadfastly and enormously. But, for me to respond with the appropriate gratitude and abandon, it takes humility - I need to rid myself of any sense of entitlement, any thought of merit. It takes humility to fear the Lord, that is, to give Him the reverential respect that is His due. Notice how fearing the Lord is a recurring theme in this Psalm. It is essential in the Psalmist’s mind.
It should be essential to us.
“But,” the Psalmist continues immediately after putting us in our place, “the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.”
The Lord’s steadfast love is not bound by time or distance or even existence, as we know it, it seems. Here we are, transgressors made of dust, our days like grass. It doesn’t matter how accomplished we are, how rich we are, that is really, who we are before our Holy Creator of heaven and earth, who loves us like a compassionate Father.
I don’t think we can truly fear the Lord if we don’t realize the truth about ourselves. We can’t even breathe without Him. And, we are frail, forgettable transgressors weighed down with our sin without Him. Hardly a way to live. Add the Lord to our lives, and suddenly, no longer burdened by our transgressions, we can gallop around as people who are loved with an everlasting love beyond bounds and reason, or merit. And, we cannot fully appreciate, and fully respond to His incredible love if don’t have a proper view of who we are. We will just be indifferent or lukewarm. A proper perspective will deepen our relationship with our God, giving us a fuller realization of His love for us, which is beyond our wildest dreams.
I think, thanks to this Psalm, the next time I go for a walk, as I step out on grass and dust and pass the flowers along the way, I will remember my frailty, my weakness, and then I will look up and see the heavens, and remember that God loves me that much, and there’s nothing that will change that love, and then I’ll look beyond the horizons, and realize that my transgressions are far removed from me, well beyond the horizon; that I no longer need to feel their weight, because He has graciously removed them from me. And, I think it will be enough to bring me to my knees, in tears right then and there, to worship a Heavenly Creator who loves me so and who will never let me go.
And I will cry out with love and gratitude, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul. Bless His Holy Name!” Amen.
11 For as the heavens are high 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 he removes our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish 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 bidding, obedient to his spoken word. 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
--------------------------------------------
I am so familiar with this Psalm. It has been the “Birthday Psalm” in my family, a tradition that was set by my grandfather. Good one. I would recommend it. Just look at its words. I use the word “look” deliberately. This is a very visual Psalm.
I’m looking at this section of Psalm 103 today in a whole new light. It’s giving me a whole new perspective. I think I’m getting a real appreciation for the Word of God as a living word. It just doesn’t get stale. It’s alive, and breathing. And, if you let it, it will help you live. Keep you alive when there might be reason to die.
I love the visuals that this psalm provides, and how they illustrate who we are, who God is and how He relates to us. Do you see? Next time I look up at the heavens, and see how far away they are, I will think “Wow. That’s how much God loves me with His steadfast love!” And my vision will probably start to blur as I consider such love. It’s almost beyond our imagination, that kind of love, both in its steadfastness and it’s enormity.
The dictionary definition of steadfast is: Not subject to change. So, there you have it. God’s love for us is not subject to change. Period. It doesn’t matter how much we change; how low we sink, how much our love for Him cools, or even disappears; or even if it turns to hate. All that is irrelevant to the Lord’s steadfast love towards us. And the enormity of it is staggering! As far as the heavens are from the earth! Wow. Do you know such love? You can. The Lord loves you and me that much. Steadfastly. This is what the Apostle Paul talks about when he is “convinced” that “ neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39)
Wow.
When we encounter such love – the kind of love that will not separate itself from you, no matter what -- it is impossible not to respond. It is impossible not to have our hearts melt. Fight it all you want, in the end, it proves irresistible. I think the Lord of the heavens and the earth wants us to know Him like that. And, wants us to respond to His love with delight.
Look what He has done for us. Look at how He relates to us.
As far as the east is from the west, the Psalmist sings, “so far he removes our transgressions from us.” That’s a great distance! First, He loves us, then He removes our transgressions from us, so far that we are no longer associated with them. And then, the Lord is like a loving Father, “who has compassion for those who fear him.” I love how the issue of our transgressions is sandwiched between the Lord’s steadfast love and the Lord’s fatherly compassion.
Perhaps it’s because I need it now more than ever, that I am seeing what this Psalm offers in a whole new light.
Who am I? A transgressor. I am dust. My days are like grass. I wither away eventually. I am as fragile as a flower. All it takes is a wind to wipe away my existence. Then I’m gone. Forgotten.
Quite chastening those images! Rightly so. Puts me in my place, which is not a bad thing because in it all, I am still loved steadfastly and enormously. But, for me to respond with the appropriate gratitude and abandon, it takes humility - I need to rid myself of any sense of entitlement, any thought of merit. It takes humility to fear the Lord, that is, to give Him the reverential respect that is His due. Notice how fearing the Lord is a recurring theme in this Psalm. It is essential in the Psalmist’s mind.
It should be essential to us.
“But,” the Psalmist continues immediately after putting us in our place, “the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.”
The Lord’s steadfast love is not bound by time or distance or even existence, as we know it, it seems. Here we are, transgressors made of dust, our days like grass. It doesn’t matter how accomplished we are, how rich we are, that is really, who we are before our Holy Creator of heaven and earth, who loves us like a compassionate Father.
I don’t think we can truly fear the Lord if we don’t realize the truth about ourselves. We can’t even breathe without Him. And, we are frail, forgettable transgressors weighed down with our sin without Him. Hardly a way to live. Add the Lord to our lives, and suddenly, no longer burdened by our transgressions, we can gallop around as people who are loved with an everlasting love beyond bounds and reason, or merit. And, we cannot fully appreciate, and fully respond to His incredible love if don’t have a proper view of who we are. We will just be indifferent or lukewarm. A proper perspective will deepen our relationship with our God, giving us a fuller realization of His love for us, which is beyond our wildest dreams.
I think, thanks to this Psalm, the next time I go for a walk, as I step out on grass and dust and pass the flowers along the way, I will remember my frailty, my weakness, and then I will look up and see the heavens, and remember that God loves me that much, and there’s nothing that will change that love, and then I’ll look beyond the horizons, and realize that my transgressions are far removed from me, well beyond the horizon; that I no longer need to feel their weight, because He has graciously removed them from me. And, I think it will be enough to bring me to my knees, in tears right then and there, to worship a Heavenly Creator who loves me so and who will never let me go.
And I will cry out with love and gratitude, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul. Bless His Holy Name!” Amen.
posted by Ruth at 1:00 AM
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