Welcome back!

I’m so glad you’ve joined me again today for our walk through Psalm 103. Today, we’re going to discuss verses 15 through 19. If you missed any of the earlier posts in Psalm 103, you can read them by clicking the links below:

As you reread Psalm 103 below, you’ll see my notes for verses 15 through 19. If you’ve been taking notes too, I’d love to hear what stands out to you in this psalm. You can share your thoughts any time by clicking “Comment” at the end of the post. Verses 15 through 19 share some beautiful and hard-hitting truths. Let’s jump in!

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!

If you’re new to Psalm1072.com, you may have missed me mentioning before that, while I am no longer in the classroom, I will forever consider myself to be an English teacher. The art of communicating information and emotion and evoking a response from the reader is a wonderous thing to me, another example of how God took a human misstep – the Tower of Babel – and turned it into something beautiful: diverse languages!

As we look at verses 15 through 19, what stands out to me first are the similes that King David uses to describe the fragile and temporary nature of mankind. He likens our lifespan to that of grass and our productivity, our bloom, to a flower in the field.

Have you ever wondered about the lifespan of a blade of grass?

Every May when the mowing starts around here, I’m tempted to believe that grass lives forever; after all, it certainly grows back quickly despite the sickly brown color that sets in every winter and despite how often I mow it down!

But, with the help of our friend the internet, I learned this week that the lifespan of the average blade of lawn grass is about 40 days. If you take really good care of your lawn, the internet says that the overall grass plants will live about 40 years and start showing age around year 25; the average lawn grass though, appears to live about 15 to 20 years.

I like to imagine that I’ll reach the ripe old age of 101 and enjoy decades and decades with my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. In light of 101 years, 40 days seems a very short lifespan. In truth, from my 42 year old perspective 40 days is still a very short lifespan.

And what about the bloom of a flower? How long does that last?

Not long at all if it’s in a planter or flowerbed at my house! Sadly, I am not known for having a green thumb. I have managed not to kill the Inch Plant (Tradescantia) that hangs in my office window for almost a year now, which is a major accomplishment for me.

Turning to the internet again to discover how long a flower bloom lasts in the field, I decided to go with the flowering plant that grows quite well in my yard, the dandelion. What I discovered is that a dandelion flower bloom lasts for approximately two to three weeks. During that time, the sunny yellow petals that dot our lawns slowly wither and fall off, while the plant transitions to the seed bearing stage and up pops that fluffy white head on a spindly neck – beautiful in its own right, until you stop to think about how many more dandelions are about to be blown across your yard (which I personally love – dandelions, violets, clover, love ’em all – plain old grass seems so boring to me, but I digress).

Assuming again that the Lord allows me to live until 101, or even if He calls me home today at 42, two to three weeks is not very long at all compared to the average human lifespan.

And this brings us to verses 17 through 19. You’ll notice in my notes above that I put “But the Lord’s faithful love and his righteousness” in bold font, and, if you’ve been reading these posts for a while, you’ve likely noticed that one of my favorite phrases to use is “But God”. I just love how those two words signify that a change is coming; that something better is on the way.

In the case of Psalm 103, King David uses the word “But” to signify a change in time and permanence. Our human lives are short, temporary, and what we produce with our lives is fragile, easily blown away like the fluffy seeds of a dandelion plant.

But the Lord’s faithful love and His righteousness last from eternity to eternity. His faithfulness never ends. His love has no expiration date. His righteousness stands forever.

Toward those who fear him and toward the grandchildren of those who keep His covenant and remember to observe His precepts.

We see repeated here themes from verse 13 of this psalm and from Psalm 1 as well. I’ll ask you to recall, as I’ve shared before, that fear here is not meant to be compliance for fear of punishment, but rather awe and adoration of God for His unconditional love and forgiveness and immeasurable awesomeness as Creator and Lord of all. God desires our obedience, our keeping of the covenant and remembrance of His teachings, to come from our deep and committed love of Him.

This is why David proclaims in verses 1 and 2, “Bless the Lord, o my soul!”.

Friend, God alone is worthy of our blessing, our praise, our surrendered lives! He has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all – for all time! Our earthly lives are short in comparison to eternity, like a blade of grass compared to our lives, and the things we produce do not last very long just as a flower’s bloom does not last long.

BUT GOD – love those words! – God assures us that in Jesus Christ, we will spend our eternal life in Heaven with Him (John 5:24; John 14:1-7). We bless God because He has prepared a place for those who love Him! And He opens the door to that place to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 3:16).

BUT GOD – God assures us that Heaven is a place that never decays and that nothing in Heaven ever decays (1 Corinthians 15:50-58). We bless God because He is eternal and His Heavenly Kingdom is too! All we have here on earth will one day disappear, legacies will ultimately fade, BUT the King of kings and Lord of lords, His throne stands forever, His kingdom where we will one day live lasts forever, in Christ Jesus, we have a home that lasts forever!

My soul, bless the Lord! Bless His holy name! Thank You, God for Your eternal nature! Thank You, for preparing an eternal home for me! May I never forget Your blessings toward me! May I be found faithful as You are faithful!

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