Psalms 103:2–3

Then comes the burst of praise from Psalms 103, 104, 105 — all praise from earth. When God has done it, there is nothing left to do but light the incense of praise and send it back up to God who has done it. David could praise, not about David, but about God. I have done nothing, he would say, nothing but failure; but you have done it all. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." When we can speak of nothing else, we can speak of God.

The psalmist calls on his soul, with all its powers, to praise Jehovah — the eternal, unchangeable, covenant God. Love showing itself in "all His benefits" wakes the soul to praise Him. Yet even in the middle of its joy, the soul sees how weak and changeable the creature is. It has had abundant proof of this, set against His faithfulness: "forget not all His benefits."

Forgetting is one of the dangers on a disciple's path. How quickly Israel forgot the hardships of Egypt and their great deliverance! They started grumbling and crying, "we shall die in the wilderness". But are we not in the same danger? We quickly forget the answered prayers of yesterday. We forget the help found in personal need or in shared trials. And we dishonour our Lord through "little faith". May we not join in the prayer of David, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Ps. 103:2)?

In Psalm 103 he blesses Jehovah as the Forgiver and Healer of His people. In Psalm 104 he blesses Him as the glorious Creator. In Psalm 105 he blesses Him as faithful to His covenant with the fathers, and to His promises.

His first words to the paralysed man were not words of healing but of pardon. Had their spiritual sight been clear, they would have recognised that Psalm 103:3 had come true before their eyes: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases". Every tongue would then have exclaimed, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

This psalm shows it beautifully. Unhindered praise will rise from the hearts of those redeemed and blessed in the millennium. The psalmist calls on his own soul to bless the Lord, and all that is within him. Being so greatly blessed then, how could they ever forget His benefits? And how can we today forget the great blessing with which God has blessed the Church of God? Sadly, we know our own memories are too short about these things.

To trust in prosperity, in earthly riches, is a danger for most believers, if not all. How much greater the folly of trusting them now, when our true riches are shown to be heavenly and not earthly! To boast of spiritual gifts and attainments as if we had gained them by our own skill offends the Lord even more. He alone gives as it pleases Him. It is to put God's blessings and favours in the place of God Himself. If the perishable things of this life are His gift, how much more the spiritual and eternal! Forget not all His benefits, but bless the Lord.

It is worth seeing how this connects with Christ in the Gospels. The Lord is the One who forgives and heals. This is just what the Lord does with the paralysed man. It was an example of how God governs and deals with man. He healed the paralysis, and besides, He forgave the sins. They say, "Who is this who forgives sins also?" He proved that He was the Lord who forgave them and healed their diseases.

The 103rd Psalm illustrates most beautifully Israel's coming praise. It is not only "who forgives all your iniquity," but also "who heals all your diseases." People usually read the diseases in this psalm as a picture of something spiritual, but that is incorrect. They are diseases of the body. The Son of Man did this for one paralysed man while He was here in humiliation. When He comes again, exalted, He will do it for the whole nation and for others on the earth in that coming age of glory.

The fruits of sin, whether sickness or death, could be removed, and sins forgiven. This is in harmony with Psalm 103:3, which will be sung on a coming day: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." Then, too, the bright forecast of the prophet about Jerusalem will come true: "And no inhabitant will say, 'I am sick'; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity" (Isaiah 33:24).

But can we say that "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases" is the way the Lord deals now with Christians? Where He forgives a person's iniquities, does He necessarily heal all their diseases? But here it is clear that the Lord had in view the cure of bodily diseases joined with the forgiveness of sins, in the same people and at the same time. When will this be? When God takes the government of the world into His own hands. When the One who was crucified is glorified — not only in heaven, but here below — the outward world, the body of man, and especially God's own people Israel, will feel the effect at once. We can take the spirit of the Psalms, so far as they apply to our condition now. But let us not forget: much in the Psalms does not apply to us.

True, He does heal now at times, but still He allows sickness to affect His people. Then the healing will not only be complete, but connected also with forgiveness. Some people think the grand thing is to have faith in God's power. He has only to speak, and the worst disease can be healed easily; but He is training us. Sometimes He sends sickness to prevent, sometimes to correct. We ought to have faith in His love as well as in His power, and in His wisdom too. Have faith in God, not simply in His power.

This is how Israel will be forgiven later on (compare Psalm 103:3). So the Lord here proves His authority to forgive, by healing the paralysed man's disease... The man was to know, in his relationship to God, that his guilt was gone. Through infinite grace, we are entitled to more than even this; for we have the righteousness of the accepted man in God's presence.

God's majesty, holiness, and truth have been upheld. Sin has been judged in the light, the conscience cleared, the heart made happy, full communion restored, and the soul established in grace. The tears may have been more bitter than myrrh, but the results are sweeter than honey.