Crowned With Lovingkindness
and Mercy
Psalm 103:1-5
A Psalm of David.
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
iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from
destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth
with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
In Psalm 103:1-5, David wants
us to remember all the wonderful benefits that the LORD has personally blessed
us with in life. He lists at least seven of them in these first verses. As we
think and meditate upon them, we should find our hearts delighting in the LORD
and filled with praise to Him! Instead of always complaining and living a life
filled with bitterness, we will learn to “rejoice in the LORD always”
(Philippians 4:4), “in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18),
and “be content in whatever state or situation we might find ourselves in”
(Philippians 4:11).
Yesterday
we talked about the benefits of healing and redemption (vv. 3-4). We have been “healed
by His strips” because God laid on Him all our iniquities and sins
(Isaiah 53:5-6). We have been redeemed by His blood (Colossians 1:14), which
means we have been taken out of the slave market of sin and set free to live
and serve Him!
Today,
we want to remember and not forget that we also have been “crowned with His
lovingkindness and tender mercies” (v. 4). David also knew something about
crowns, but no crown he ever wore compared with God's lovingkindness and
compassion (tender mercies). David was crowned the king of Judah for the first
seven years of his kingdom. Then he was crowned again as king of all Israel for
the last 33 years of his 40-year reign over the nation. But before he could
wear the crown of reigning with all the authority and influence that the
position of being a king gave him, he had to spend years wearing the crown of
thorns.
David
went through years of rejection, of pain and suffering, as Saul sought to kill
him. Yet it was in the midst of the suffering that David experienced the
lovingkindness, the compassion and the tender mercies of the LORD. That is why
he would write in Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”.
As
you read the many Psalms that David wrote, you cannot help but notice that over
and over again David pleaded for God’s steadfast love and tender mercy to be
extended to him. A good example is Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender
mercies, Blot out my transgressions.”
As
a matter of fact, David mentions these attributes several more times in Psalm
103. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in
mercy” (v.8). “So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him” (v.
11). “As a father pities his children, so the LORD has compassion on those
who fear Him” (v. 13). “But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to
everlasting on those who hear Him…” (v. 17).
We
are told in Romans 5:17, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death
reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of
grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man
Jesus Christ.” Today, we have been
crowned to reign in life through Jesus Christ! This means if we are willing to “suffer
with Him we shall also reign with Him” (2 Timothy 2:12).
Yes,
my friend we are not only “redeemed” and free to live life, we are crowned to
rule with Christ sharing with the world around us His lovingkindness and His
tender mercies!
God
bless!
