I cannot deny that there are moments when my inner attitude gets filled with feelings of awe, reverence, gratitude, and/or love when I consider who God is and who I am in relation to Him. These are times when my innermost being responds with praise for all that God is. I realize that in these occasions, my attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words are so aligned with the truth of God as He has revealed Himself. In these instances, all that I am simply reacts rightly to all that He is. And no, it is not because of the music I might be listening to. This loving God; honoring God; knowing God for who He is; adoring Him, obeying Him, and proclaiming Him as my way of life. This is worship. My desire then is to be oriented God-ward, being permeated with a sense of His majesty and glory. If there is music, well, that is one way by which we express this adoration.
If I should do anything, I pray that it be all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). So that, when I meditate on the mystery of God, my conscience is quickened by the holiness of God. When I read the word of God, my mind feeds on the truth of God. When I engage the creativity of my thoughts, the beauty of God purges my imaginations. When I receive the sacraments, my heart becomes open to the love of God. And as I come to the knowledge of God, my inclination will be to the purpose of God.
All Creation Praises God
Psalm 148:1-5 depicts all of creation fulfilling the divine purpose for which they were created. The Psalmist argues that God assigned each their station forever, and set them in an order that will never change (Psalm 148:6). He asserts that God commanded and they were created; to praise Him, to venerate Him, and to stand in obeisance before Him (Psalm 148:8). Thus the rainbow shows its colors as a reflection of the Beauty of God. The birds sing their songs for Him. The sun, the moon, and the stars light up the sky in imitation of the faithful word of God that enlightens us.
This gives the impression that only man seems to forget this command. Thus, David made it a practice to remind himself of this great need he has of praising God (Psalm 103:1-2). Even though we forget it every so often, the prophets reveal that we are actually set apart in order to praise God ( Isaiah 43:21 & Jeremiah 13:11); and the apostles teach that we are predestined to do exactly that (Ephesians 1:6 & 1 Peter 2:9). Therefore, our whole lives are supposed to be one great act of worship from the time we accept the Lord Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and unto eternity!
We Worship God in Spirit and in Truth
In the eyes of God, we cannot worship until we are worshippers. We are not worshippers until we fulfill the purpose of our creation ( Isaiah 43:21). Worship in Spirit is the true worship where we worship in reality. This is when our inner being (i.e. the spirit) is right with God, and outer motions of worship flow from the inside to the outside. In this, our hearts overflow with love for Him, because worship is similar to love. It is not based on the feelings we have therein, but if it is genuine, then feelings will certainly be involved.
Worship in truth is where our worship must have content. It must be based on the true revelation that God has given of Himself in His Word. This suggests that we cannot properly worship until we come to understand something of who God is and what He has done.
It is clear in the Bible that God is seeking worshipers ( Psalm 145:18); but this worship must be in spirit and in truth ( Isaiah 48:1 & John 4:23-24). In other words, we cannot be God’s children and yet not seek to grow as true worshipers of God. In order for us to truly worship in spirit and truth, these two key elements must come together:
- An understanding of who God is, and who we are in relation to God.
- A realization of who God really is, so that you become painfully aware of who you are in His holy presence
We must learn from the likes of David, whom God refers to as a man after God’s own heart. This is probably because David worshipped God in spirit and truth. One thing for sure is that David knew who God is, and David also knew who he was in relation to God. David expressed this knowing with awe, reverence, gratitude, and love for God in many of the psalms.
King David’s Reasons for Praising God
When we look at Psalm 103 in particular, we find it to be a psalm of pure worship. Unlike most of the psalms, this one does not have petitions for help or cries for deliverance. David simply focuses on the Lord and His great blessings and overflows in worship. David indicates that God’s goodness is great. He begins by calling on his soul to bless the Lord and urges his entire being to “bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1). This takes us back to what it is that David knows about God.
For him, God’s name refers to the totality of His attributes; that is to who God is as a person. All of God’s actions stem from His attributes; and, therefore, God’s name refers to all that God is and all that He has done for us, as His children. David then focuses on the abundant goodness of God and pleads with his soul to “forget none of His benefits” (Psalm 103:2). He invites us to join him in recalling God’s many tender mercies. David understands that it is human nature to forget God’s benefits. This is why focusing our praise on God’s blessings must be a deliberate choice that we make. When we don’t, we end up focusing on a perceived negative in some trying time, and soon doubts are cast at this Goodness.
God’s goodness stems from His nature, as verses 7 – 17 emphasize that God is gracious. David stresses God’s grace by recalling that God revealed Himself to Moses and manifested to the sons of Israel (Exodus 34:6). He quotes God’s revelation of Himself to Moses and reveals His fundamental nature as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He then compares the nature of the anger in God’s love with human wrath, which is quick to rise and slow to fade (Psalm 103: 8b & 9b). David acknowledges that although God has much to rebuke, He does not harp on it and keep accusing us. God sees how much there is to punish, yet He all the more forgives no matter our not deserving it.
This is why David praises God’s lovingkindness ( Psalm 103: 4, 11 & 17). God crowns us with His loyal love and is abounding in this loyal love of us, as He reassures us that this love is eternal (cf. Psalm 90:2). David praises God as being compassionate, understanding of how we are made, and relating to us with gentleness, not according to our sins ( Psalm 103: 4, 8, 10 &13). He depicts God as forgiving since He pardons all our sins and removes them far from us, as far as the east is from the west ( Psalm 103: 3 & 12). God being sovereign is thus a source of comfort to us because it guarantees that nothing or no one can thwart God’s plans to bless His people ( Psalm 103:19). What God promises, He brings to pass.
God’s goodness means that His people receive abundant benefits from His hand, especially when we praise! We receive forgiveness of all our sins and healing of all our diseases, whether spiritual, emotional, or physical ( Psalm 103:3). Whatever means the healing takes, it comes from God and praise for it must be to God. We are delivered from death as God redeems our life from the pit (Psalm 103:4). God already paid the ransom for our sin through the death of Jesus Christ so that we might be released from sin’s power and penalty. This means that God gives us a good life now ( Psalm 103:5). He satisfies our years with good things so that our youth is renewed like that of the eagle. He gives us many material blessings. He gives us inner renewal, even as our outer body continues to grow weaker (2 Corinthians 4:16 & Isaiah 40:31). These blessings are ours at no cost but we must remember that they were gotten at great cost to God. The fact is that we deserve His wrath, but He gives us His love. In Holy Communion, we should often exclaim with David saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget none of His benefits!”
We are People With a Great Need
If we want to be people who worship God from the heart, we must focus on who God is and how He has blessed us. Focusing on His goodness will cause our hearts to well up with thanksgiving and praise. But we cannot focus on God without also realizing something about who we are. Our true condition is that we are desperately needy – sinful, sick, and short-lived – or else we will not cry out to God for mercy, and we will not receive His many blessings.
Since we are sinful (Psalm 103: 3, 4, 8 -10 &12), the closer we draw to God who is Light, the more we see the sinfulness of our hearts, the more we are open to His grace, and the deeper we are to love Him, who forgives us so much! We are needy because we are a sick people, subject to disease, vulnerable and frail (Psalm 103:3b). We are short-lived people, and this is why David compares us to the grass or to the flowers of the field (Psalm 103: 15 -16). There is none who is guaranteed a long life; and, even a long life is short when we compare it to eternity.
This is why we need God. St. Paul teaches that God humbles us with a thorn in the flesh so that we can learn that we are weak and needy (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). Ours is to trust fully in God and His grace, knowing that when we are weak, then we are strong ( 2 Corinthians 12:10).
Respond with Heartfelt Praise
David finishes by affirming the absolute sovereignty of God. He calls in the angels to as well bless the Lord (vs 20). All the hosts are asked to praise God, and these do obey God’s command and carry out God’s will. Then he extends the call to all of God’s works; and in case he might just get lost in the grandeur of all this praising and worshipping, he comes back to himself, saying “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” ( Psalm 103:19-22).
David teaches us that worship is a response of praise (cf. Psalm 103: 1, 2, 20-22). To bless God is to respond to God’s blessings in our life with heartfelt praise. We are to give back to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15), flowing from His abundant goodness to us. We must oftentimes stir ourselves to worship so that we do not forget but deliberately remember God’s blessings (Psalm 103: 2). We must stop to count our blessings, and so remember God’s goodness in spite of our self-centeredness and sin.
We worship as a response of our fear of God ( Psalm 103: 11, 13 & 17), by which we live with the awareness that all we think, say, and do is open to His scrutiny ( Hebrews 4:13) and that one day we will give account to Him. Recalling Saul’s rejection (1 Samuel 15:22), our worship should be a response of obedience (Psalm 103:18), which keeps in mind that the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil ( Proverbs 8:13).
