Bless the Lord

I am an avid fisherman.  One of the joys of fishing is the exhilaration of reeling in a catch.  No matter what size it is.  Harkening back to the day when I caught my biggest bass ever (7 ½ lbs), I remember shouting loudly from the banks of the farm pond in western Illinois and dropping to my knees whole clutching the lunker to my chest.  What an excitement.  There are moments in our own lives when we can remember the excitement of something good happening in our lives.  When those exciting moments occur and we feel the excitement surge within us, there leads a tendency to share the news with others.  In the very first verse of Psalm 103, you get the sense of exhilaration from the psalmist: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”  The word “bless” implies a sense of praise.  There is something significant about the use of the word “soul” here.  In fact, a return to Genesis will demonstrate that usage.  The word translated “soul” in verses one and two is the exact same one found in Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (KJV).  How did we, shaped from dirt, become a living soul?  By having God breathing into our nostrils.  Usually when the human body is described, you hear it described as body, mind, and soul.  Our soul is the very breath of God, the best of who we are.  When the psalmist shouts “Bless the Lord, O my soul” he is shouting that the he must praise God with the very best of who he has and what he has.  God deserves the very best of who we are and the very best of what he has?  Why?  Verse 2 tells us because of his benefits.  What benefits?  That answer can be found in the following verses: who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalms 103:3-5).  Yes.  Salvation.  Redemption.  Forgiveness for our sins.  There have been many excitable moments in our lives.  But nothing compares to the free gift of salvation that offers redemption and forgiveness for all our sins richly and lavishly given to us by God.  Does His forgiveness still excite you?

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What can wash away my sin?

 Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

 What can make me whole again?

 Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow

 That makes me white as snow;

 No other fount I know,

 Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

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The elderly pastor was searching his closet for his collar before church one Sunday morning. In the back of the closet, he found a small box containing 3 eggs and 100 $1 bills.

      He called his wife into the closet to ask her about the box and its contents. Embarrassed, she admitted having hidden the box there for their entire 30 years of marriage. Disappointed and hurt, the pastor asked her, "WHY?"

      The wife replied that she hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings. He asked her how the box could have hurt his feelings. She said that every time during their marriage that he had delivered a poor sermon, she had placed an egg in the box.

      The pastor felt that 3 poor sermons in 30 years was certainly nothing to feel bad about, so he asked her what the $100 was for.

      She replied, "Each time I got a dozen eggs, I sold them to the neighbours for $1."