“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
~ Psalm 103:13
Hi James and Ellen,
What does happiness mean to you? What brings ecstatic joy into your lives? What fills your lives with hope? Is happiness for you the result of something that you did that is significant and valued in your micro society or is happiness to you something that God has unconditionally and without merit done for you? Is ecstatic joy for you the reward of having done something that is unforgettable and esteemed in your mini world or is ecstatic joy to you something that God has unreservedly and without an expectation of repayment ransomed for you? Is hope for you the result of something that you did that is perceived to have standing and financial benefits in your multicultural community or is hope to you something that God has categorically and without reason given to you? Is happiness to you doing something that you personally really enjoy doing or is happiness to you having God providentially doing something for you? Is ecstatic joy to you having something unexpectedly given to you that you really wanted or is ecstatic joy to you having God awaken His creation before your eyes? Is hope to you having something promised that will ascertain financial security on planet Earth or is hope to you having had God endow the gift of eternal life to you? When your grandmaa said that she would be willing to marry your grandpaa, your grandpaa found out – in a guy context, what euphoric happiness is like. When your grandpaa spotting your grandmaa beginning her slow walk to the front of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware to join your grandpaa and the guys and gals who were in their wedding party and where your grandpaa and grandmaa would become husband and wife, your grandpaa found out – in a human context, what exhilarating joy is like. When your grandpaa one summer evening got out of the chair that he had been sitting in in the basement of Marion Kredit’s house – which is where your grandpaa stayed in Sioux Center, Iowa while your grandpaa was a student for two years at Dordt College and during the summer between the two years when your grandpaa was a student at Dordt College when he worked at Wandscheer Manufacturing Company in Sioux Center, after having read from the Bible – possibly Romans 12:1, to get down on his knees in front of the chair to tell God that he would always be ready do whatever it was that God wanted him to do, your grandpaa found out – in a heart context, what expectant hope is like. Your grandpaa knows what it is like to have God respond to that heart hope with a loving, beautiful helpmate and a rewarded life.
Your grandpaa today wonders where the spirits of happiness, ecstatic joy and hope have gone. Renewal is seen everywhere today where your grandmaa and grandpaa are living. Springtime has brought green back to brown lawns and denuded trees. Warm weather has awakened dormant bushes and sleeping plants to where they are now showing off their colorful blooms. The arrival of the Vatican Pope to the United States is stirring tormented souls. Instead of securely basking in a United States society that has all the potential for going for it to be optimistic and forward looking nation, guys, gals and kids today are being subjected to the spirits of pessimism, negativism and defeatism. The spirits of permissiveness, deceit and vileness are working hard to dumb down and mute the religious mindset of the guys, gals and kids who are living in a land that was settled to worship God. Your grandpaa wonders what it would be like if every Christ-follower guy and gal read over and over again Psalm 103. This psalm song hymn was written by David to praise God. David recollects in this psalm song hymn God’s mercies on His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals. David celebrates in this psalm song hymn with happiness, ecstatic joy and hope God’s undeserved compassion and unlimited love for a nation of sinful, frail mortals. David purposively framed and set the tone in this psalm song hymn that he scribed. David meticulously determined the length of this psalm song hymn by the number of letters that are in the Hebrew alphabet.
David begins this psalm song hymn that he scribed by scribing that everything in him was praising the Lord’s holy name. David would continue his praise fest of the Lord by scribing that his soul will never forget the benefits of knowing the Lord, of having his sins forgiven by the Lord, of being able to claim the healing power of the Lord’s name over all diseases, of believing that the Lord had redeemed his life from a pit, of rejoicing for the love and for the compassion crowns that the Lord had crowned him with, of giving his desires to the Lord for the Lord to satisfy him with good things and of accepting the renewal of his strength to become like a soaring eagle. David had come to know God as being compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. David scribed in verse 13, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.” David reminded his psalm song hymn singers that the Lord is Who knows how kids are formed from dust and how guys’ lives will last no longer than a field of grass or a flower in a field or how quickly a wind goes from one place to another place. If David’s refrain of ‘praise the Lord’ is heard being echoed sincerely by every Christ-follower guy, gal and kid today, your grandpaa believes that wondrous signs would be evident everywhere in this great country that is called the United States of America. David knew that the Lord has total dominion over every being in His creation – including angels and heavenly hosts. David knew that his happiness, ecstatic joy and hope depended on him faithfully obeying the Lord’s precepts and keeping the Lord’s covenant. In what ways is this psalm song hymn speaking to you today?
Psalm 103 (911)