Hi, Friend!

Welcome back to our journey through the Book of Psalms. This week we’re going to try to wrap up our exploration of Psalm 103: The Forgiving God. I say “try” because sometimes Holy Spirit tells me we’re going to park somewhere for a while and I do my best not to run out ahead.

Today, we’ll try to focus on verses 11 through 14. Like last week, I’ve shared my highlighting and underlining below. I encourage you to reread the full psalm, and, when you reach those verses, take note of the comparisons that are being made through the words “as” and “so” and of who benefits from each the comparisons.

The Forgiving God
Of David.

1 My soul, bless the Lord,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 My soul, bless the Lord,
and do not forget all his benefits.

3He forgives all your iniquity;
he heals all your diseases.
4 He redeems your life from the Pit;
he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.
5 He satisfies you with good things;
your youth is renewed like the eagle.

6 The Lord executes acts of righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He revealed his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.

9 He will not always accuse us

or be angry forever.

10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his faithful love
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 has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;
16 when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.
17 But from eternity to eternity
the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him,
and his righteousness toward the grandchildren
18 of those who keep his covenant,
who remember to observe his precepts.
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord,
all his angels of great strength,
who do his word,
obedient to his command.
21 Bless the Lord, all his armies,
his servants who do his will.
22 Bless the Lord, all his works
in all the places where he rules.
My soul, bless the Lord!

As high as the heavens are above the earth!

I’ll admit, I can’t fathom how high that is. God has given me a knack for words, but not so much for visual spatial reasoning. Even if someone told me the distance a space shuttle travels to reach outer space (which I imagine as “the heavens”), I don’t think I would fully comprehend just how high that is. So, this word girl is going to skip over the science and geography and focus on the words of the psalmist and the psalmist’s knack for creating imagery to help us understand God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and compassion toward us.

Thinking about the psalmist’s experience, in this case, David’s, I am reminded first that the distance to “the heavens” was a huge unknown in David’s time. As we read verse 11, it’s important to remember that, in David’s context, “as far as the heavens are above the earth” was an unreachable distance; David is comparing the faithfulness of God’s love to a distance that could not be measured in his time, to a distance that is unreachable by human means.

And friend, I think it’s important to note that, even though we can now measure the distance to “the heavens” if we think of them as outer space, we still have no idea in our day and age, despite significant scientific and technological advances, just how far the heavens expand. And this infinitely unknowable distance, this is how great God’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him. It is so great, that we cannot measure it; in truth, we cannot even fathom the full depths of it.

Our walk with God is a lot like space exploration, just when we think we’ve figured out how far the universe expands, we find something new. Walking with God, just when we think we understand His great love for us, He brings us into an experience that shows us His love is even greater, even more faithful than we previously understood or even believed possible.

Toward those that fear Him – I have that highlighted in blue above because the psalmist has phrased the verse to emphasize that “those who fear Him” are the recipients of God’s faithful love that is greater than the distance from the earth to the heavens. And I just want to take a moment to remind us of the meaning of “fear” as it is often used in the Bible and God’s approach to fear. I quote them often, but I want to remind us of 2 Timothy 1:7:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

and also of 1 John 4:18:

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

Friend, when God tells us through Psalm 103:11 that His faithful love is great toward those who fear Him, He isn’t talking about shaking in your boots, afraid of making a wrong move, watching the sky for divine lightening bolts that might be zig zagging down towards you. Know this: God wants our love, not our fear. That’s why when we accept Jesus as our Savior, He sends us Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s power, and His love, and His good decision-making. God’s love drives out our fear because His grace and mercy mean we don’t have to fear the punishment of hell for our sin. Remember, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23). Now, we still have the consequences of sin on earth, and those are often frightening, but we do not need to be afraid of God in terms of punishment.

When we see “fear God” in the Bible, we should keep in mind the full context of the Bible, every verse, and recall that God loves us and desires our love and devotion, not our fearful compliance. To refer back to Psalm 1, when we are mature in our love for God, we walk in His way because we love Him and we are in AWE of His great love for us. We don’t follow His commands out of fear of punishment, but rather we delight in His instruction because we recognize that it is good and brings goodness to our lives and the lives of those around us.

Let’s look at Psalm 103:11 again:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his faithful love
toward those who fear him.

Friend, there is no love like the love of God and while God is no respecter of persons, meaning that He loves everyone the same – unconditionally – and His perfect plan for salvation is for whosoever, and His desire is that no one will perish, the simple truth is – to refer back to Psalm 1 again – that those who walk in God’s ways, who delight in His instruction, those who love God and are in awe of Him, these are the ones whose lives are positioned to consistently see how great His faithful love toward us truly is. Those who seek Him first, who love God with all their hearts, these are the people who fully understand that we can’t ever hope to measure just how great His faithful love is.

Why?

Because eyes that are actively looking for God and His goodness are more likely to see it than eyes that are looking at worldly things or eyes that are focused on the storms of life more so than on the One that calms them.

And you know what? We might not make it through Psalm 103 this week after all. Let’s pause here and really reflect on our love for and walk with God. Let’s take some time to ask ourselves:

How have I experienced God’s love in my life? If I were the psalmist, how would I describe it? God’s faithful love is as _____ as _____.

How has God experienced my love for Him? If God wrote a psalm about me, how might He describe my love for Him? What comparison would He use?

When I think about Psalm 103 and Psalm 1 together, what connections do I see? Why might a person walking in God’s way, be more likely to bless God as the psalmist opens Psalm 103, than someone who is not walking in God’s way?

To ensure you receive this week’s posts on Psalm 103, subscribe for email notifications below.

References for the study of the word “bless” in Psalm 103:

Blue Letter Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1288/kjv/wlc/0-5/#lexResults

Holman KJV Study Bible. 2012. Holman Bible Publishers. Nashville, TN.