giving for any believer. It is the place at which we should always start. God has forgiven all of our sins. So this 103rd Psalm begins with the declarative exhortation, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” David basically is holding a conver sation with himself. That’s not a bad pattern for us to follow. When you get right down to it, there’s nothing wrong in talking to yourself. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing wrong in even answering yourself. The trouble really comes when you not only answer yourself, but then ask, “What’d you say?” If you go this far, you might be facing problems! Seri ously, however, David is tuning up his harp now to sing praises from within. Are you ready to do the same? It may be that no one else wants you to sing a solo. Maybe you’ve never been asked to get up and preach. But notice that David is doing all of this from within. That means it is something all of us can do. You don’t have to wait to be asked; you can offer thanksgiving in your heart! It was that well-known Baptist evangelist and “preacher’s preacher,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who used to say that, “Soul music is actually the soul of music.” Even so it is in our lives. We need to stop long enough in our daily existence to listen to the Lord as He desires to speak to us. I’m afraid that in the busy affairs of every day we become so occupied with many activities, most of which may be even worthwhile, we frequently entirely overlook the privilege of meeting with the Lord in prayer and sharing communion through His Word. A teacher decided to conduct a very interesting experiment for her pupils. She told them that as long as she held her hand in the air, the students could make as much noise as they wanted. They could holler,
my soul, and forget not all His bene fits.” It was Dwight L. Moody who reminded his congregation one time, “You may forget some of His bene fits, but you don’t need to forget them all.” Our problem is that we so soon tend to forget. We have poor memories and good “forgetories,” at least, it seems so when it comes to the things God has done for us. Of course, for many people, just the opposite is true when it comes to grudges or things we shouldn’t think, see, or do. What we’d like to forget we remember more readily. Just as a little bit of a test, ask yourself, “What was it that a year ago today, November, 1967, was my greatest concern and worry? What was the most difficult thing I had to face twelve months ago?” Now, it’s not hard for us to be aware of what we have to face today. The problem may just be living or it may be looking ahead toward Christmas, or some of these other activities. So, while we know what our problems are for the future, we so quickly forget the dif ficulties of the past, because God has already taken care of them. So often we have failed to thank the Lord for His care and keeping of us day by day! Now in verse three begins a list of those things for which the Psalm ist wants to praise God. We’re not going to take the time to go into them all, but perhaps two or three of interest. There are so many things for which to be grateful. Notice, first of all, we read of God, “Who forgiv- eth all thine iniquities.” If you have nothing else fpr which you think you can praise the Lord, you can at least thank Him for this, if, by faith, you have received Him as Saviour, ask ing His forgiveness for sins. You see, this is the prime aspect of thanks-
Envy opens the door for bitterness to come in.
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