Psalm Devotion: Psalm 103 and "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"

Psalm Devotion

April 22, 2020

Another week has gone by and it's Wednesday night again.

I'm having a hard time feeling settled and am sometimes not feeling peace from the sources I normally do, at least not to the usual degree. So that's my confession tonight, and perhaps some of you identify with it.

I'll take a moment now for a breath and to recall that I am a soul and so are you. And I'm also a body living in this world where we are susceptible to the things we fear and to the things we wish were just different. 

Now, may we take a moment to lift each other up because we share that same human condition.

Our hymn tonight is "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" which was inspired by the opening lines of Psalm 103 and has the overall theme of all creation praising as is expressed in Psalm 150. 

This hymn is probably the loosest paraphrase of a psalm that we've studied, and it has almost entered some other category. Not so much a creative restatement of any one psalm, it is more an exploration of key ideas in those two psalms along with hints of Psalms 17 and 26.

Those key ideas are speaking to me tonight. The Lord is the strength of my soul (Psalm 103), and he is the King praised by his Creation (Psalm 150). We're part of that, so not only are we not alone in our human condition but we are members of his praising Creation. 

I'll include words from both psalms and two verses of the hymn below for your meditation. I'm hoping we can all feel grounded in this whole world of God's making now that the sun has set on this Earth Day. 

Psalm 103 excerpt

1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 150 excerpt

1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
. . .
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" verses 1 and 4

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.