Psalm 103: Made new!
Leslie C.Allen renders Psalm 103:1 this way. "Praise the Lord I tell myself; every part of me..." The more familiar "praise the Lord O my soul" sounds fine but there’s something about that "praise the Lord I tell myself." It all comes down to the same thing, don’t you understand, but different ways of expressing an old and much-loved truth make it even lovelier or at least it evokes other images that enrich the truth.
It’s clear the writer (maybe David) has a lot to thank God for and he means to call us all to remember what God has done for us. The stress is certainly on the character, generosity and compassion of God but there’s a clear call to the listeners to be obedient. The singer insists that the Lord looks for respect and loyalty. But why should that surprise us? David isn’t asking for a long list of moral successes, he calls us to a heart’s direction, a disposition toward God that would result in upright and true behaviour if followed.
For some of us it’s a ceaseless struggle against murky currents that flow deep down inside. How’d they get there, where did they come from, why are they so persistent and strong? Only God knows. Oh, I’m not suggesting that we’re in the power of some fate or force about which we can do nothing—the book of Proverbs alone defies that notion when it calls us to honourable living. The very fact that we tell ourselves to praise the Lord, the very fact that the protest against our own behaviour and evil thoughts is proof enough that strength is coming to us from somewhere. So we’re not helpless little souls that have a right to wimp around; still, it’s true that for some of us the road is long and hard and we get weary. David would have known about such struggles, wouldn’t he? But for all the struggle there’s the manly insistence that we’re to be loyal to God and there’s the cheerful realisation that God renews our strength.
He "satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s." (103:5, RSV) Now there’s a picture. Boreham said he watched the eagle, way up there in the hillside, building her nest, tearing out her own feathers to do it. There she was, battering herself into ugliness to get food and a home for her young. Then there was the molting followed by the breeding season and for a while he saw her no more; but when she reappeared, there she was—a thing of beauty and power. No more the shabby-looking, bedraggled and weary thing of earlier days, lacking in interest and energy, drained! Now she challenges the skies and rides the winds and stretches herself to her glorious limit! Made new! Can this be true? Is this for us?
Mmmmm, love the very thought of it and love it even more because God had him write it for us.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
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