Hello people loved by God,
Today, let’s return to the psalmist to walk through God’s mercy and compassion for mankind, considering our nature:
For He Himself knows our form;
He remembers that we are but dust.
— Psalm 103:14
The psalmist begins this psalm by blessing the Lord. The reason for his doing this is his recognition of all that God has done for man.
Of David.
Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
— Psalm 103:1
In the following verses, David outlines the amazing things that God has done for man. One of the biggest highlights is the salvation that God offers man. The psalmist lists all the wonderful benefits to man that arise from the relationship between God and man. He says he will remember these benefits.
Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
— Psalm 103:2
These benefits include the pardoning of sin, the healing of diseases, the redemption of life, satisfaction and renewal, righteous deeds and good judgment, compassion, grace, and loving kindness. The list goes on. (Psalm 103:3-8)
We see the author making a statement which brings us to our verse of the day:
He will not always contend with us,
And He will not keep His anger forever.
— Psalm 103:9
This statement comes loaded with a number of implications. First of all, we see the psalmist identifying directly that man is fallen. This is the doctrine of the depravity of man. The author is not shy about the fact that man sinned against God and thereby broke the relationship that existed at the beginning. This is the same kind of revelation that the apostle Paul comes to when writing to the Ephesians:
And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
— Ephesians 2:1-3
But the psalmist makes a very important diagnosis when he states that the issue at the heart of man is that he is departed away from God.
Unfortunately, this goes contrary to what most people believe. It is common knowledge, even to some professing evangelical Christians, that man is inherently good. This is also a similar thought process shared by false religions, where it is assumed that man is good and all he needs to fix himself is to do some kind of works of morality or gain some hidden knowledge.
Such teachings completely ignore the fact that the true diagnosis of man’s heart is that of fallenness. The prophet Jeremiah puts it this way:
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can know it?
I, Yahweh, search the heart;
I test the inmost being,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his deeds.
— Jeremiah 17:9-10
Another element we find in David’s statement is the grace of God. David says that “God will not always contend with us.” Consequently, this is one of the benefits for which the king blesses Yahweh:
Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
— Psalm 103:8
In the garden, the clear penalty prescribed for sinning against a holy God was death. However, we see that after Adam and Eve transgressed and ate of the fruit of knowledge and evil, they did not immediately die.
And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
— Genesis 2:16-17
While some have reinterpreted God’s words about what He exactly meant by “you will surely die,” we don’t see any evidence that God’s meaning had anything to do with some kind of spiritual death but rather a general death. What this points to is the grace, mercy, and patience of God. The reason Adam and Eve did not instantly die when they sinned against God is because God was merciful to them.
Therefore, when the psalmist states that God will not always contend with us, he is alluding to God’s mercy and patience with man. For His own divine glory, God shows us mercy even in all holiness. This is why the apostle Paul makes the statement, “He loved us even when we were children of disobedience”:
But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us,
— Ephesians 2:4
It is from this transitional statement that the psalmist brings us to the verse that tells us that “God knows our form.”
Here, once again, we see the psalmist pointing to the knowledge of God. This knowledge is not merely an awareness but rather a deep insight into our being. God knows our weaknesses, and He understands us way more than we understand ourselves. It is because of this knowledge that He can be empathetic to us. To this, we see even how the author of Hebrews speaks with regard to God the Son and the kind of empathy that He has for mankind.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.
— Hebrews 4:15
David then points out the actual form of man. He says, “we are but dust.” This is indeed a tough pill to swallow. Throughout the history of mankind, we have boasted about our knowledge, might, and skill. However, in the eyes of God, we are about a pound of flesh. We are finite, fallible, weak, and doomed if left to ourselves.
We see this idea shared a couple of times throughout Holy Scripture: Genesis 2:7, Genesis 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Job 34:15.
In the next verses, we see the psalmist highlighting some of the weaknesses of men:
As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flowers.
When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
— Psalm 103:15-16
As we explore this insight, we must come to the same conclusion that the psalmist came to when he realized that we need utter dependence on God because left to ourselves, we will perish. Man cannot save himself. This is why even James says we are dependent on the will of God:
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
— James 4:15
Let us be reminded:
- Man is fallen: that was our state before we were saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
- God knows us: He knows we are weak, and He knows we cannot save ourselves.
- God is merciful: let us always remember and give glory to God for the mercy that He continues to show us every time we fall short of His glory and not take it for granted.
I pray this word gives us a reason to bless Yahweh today, with all that is within us, to bless His holy name.
Bless your heart,
Paul
Leave a Reply