Count Your Blessings

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Psalm 103:2

The Bible is full of advice to us to be grateful. Apart from the Word of God, there is another source from which we should expect this admonition—our own soul.

   David writes, preaching to himself the gospel of grace, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” We should constantly be preaching to ourselves, as David does in the Psalms. It need not be a complicated or particularly academic sermon. It can be as simple as these three words: “Bless the Lord!”

   As the first point in his sermon to himself, David exhorts: “forget not all His benefits.” The most powerful antidote to sadness and depression is a grateful heart. And the most effective way to develop a grateful heart is to consciously, specifically recount the Lord’s blessings and to thank Him for each one.

   Are you spiritually cold or disheartened? Preach this sermon to yourself—bless the Lord, O my soul! Are you discouraged? Forget not all His benefits. Are you feeling depressed? Praise the Lord. Stop focusing on what is lacking and rejoice for what you have. Sing along with this songwriter:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Prayer: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

Scriptural Reading: Psalm 103:1-22

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.

6 The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities 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; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.

17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,

18 To such as keep His covenant, And to those who remember His commandme…

Count Your Blessings