... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
[A
Psalm] of David.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
All that is within me, [bless] His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Forget not all His benefits. He[2] forgives
all your iniquities. He heals all your
diseases. He redeems your life from
destruction. He crowns you with
lovingkindness and tender mercies. He satisfies
your mouth with good. Your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s….[3]
The Lord executes
righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to
the children of Israel.[4] The Lord [is] merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and plentiful in mercy. He will
not always chide. Nor will He keep [His anger] forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor
rewarded us according to our iniquities: for as the heaven is high above the
earth, great is His mercy to those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the
west, far has He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pities children, the Lord pities those who fear Him: for He knows our frame; He remembers
that we [are] dust.
Man? His days [are]
as grass. As a flower of the field, so
he flourishes. For the wind passes over
it, and it is gone. The place of it
shall know it no more. But the mercy of
the Lord [is] from everlasting to
everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children,
to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do
them. The Lord has
prepared His throne in the heavens. His
kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, His
angels, who excel in strength, who do His commandments, listening to the voice
of His word. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His
works in all places of His dominion. Bless
the Lord, O my soul.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1]
See Psalm 146 for a very similar Psalm of praise. This is a Psalm of beatitude or blessing; these
are not that common. In most beatitudes,
God blesses man. Here, David seeks to
return the blessing to God, which is unusual in light of the fact that there is
little we can do to bless God. God is
perfectly blessed within the Undivided and Consubstantial Trinity. Only in the Incarnation is man brought into
relationship with the Trinity and made a co-participant. “God became man, so that man might become
god.” Apart from the Incarnation, the
most we can possibly do, is utter the words of blessing in worship. Within the Incarnation we may be brought into
the loving family of God, and as family members, we may bless other family
members, even God Himself: but this is a profound Mystery, hid in Christ with
God, and we cannot possible see its full significance either in this or in the
coming life. So, David’s words are
indeed unusual.
The Psalm itself, is mostly self-explanatory. The substance of the blessing consists of our
remembering God’s many gifts (benefits) with thankful hearts, being grateful
for His forgiveness of sin, appreciation for His healing, admiration for His redemption
from destruction; realization that we are crowned with love and mercy;
satisfied with good; and resurrected to new life, full of youth and vigor. There is a prayer that echoes these ideas
perfectly.
“All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities
for Your Name’s sake.”
Yahweh’s great beauty is mostly seen in that righteous
judgment, which wipes out oppression from the earth. This is the central goal of the Law: for the
law specifically identifies those very things, which tend toward slavery. Because of the pending Incarnation, Moses is
brought into intimate conversation with God; a conversation in which we share
through Scripture; and now, through the gift of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, 33
AD. David dwells at length on the whole
certainty, guarantee, and promise of God’s mercy and grace. The truly penitent will not get what they
deserve; instead, they will receive inexplicable forgiveness, cleansing, removal,
expiation, and absolution from sin; they will be justified and made truly righteous;
they will be healed in such a way that the damage to creation is undone; and
finally they will be brought into God’s family, as dear children. Why? Because
God will not unduly or unjustly assign moral culpability to creatures made of
dust.
David goes on to compare human frailty with Divine
eternality. This eternality is made a
merciful, righteous gift to people who treasure (keep) the Covenant and the
Commandments by sincerely striving to do them.
God rewards their sincerity, in spite of their many failures; He brings
them to His throne and into His kingdom: this is the essence of genuine
worship.
David concludes by returning to bless Yahweh. This time he acknowledges the place and
purpose of the holy angels. Are guardian
angels in view here? The relationship between
angels and men is such that angels do and hear God’s commandments perfectly;
whereas men, being creatures of dust, defiled in sin in Adam cannot…. Therefore, all of God’s creation (works)
everywhere (in all places) should and can be blessing Yahweh.
[2] The
word, Who, makes no sense to the modern reader, because it implies a question:
so we have replaced it with the sensible and simple, He.
[3] The
ancients observed that an eagle, during moulting, seemed to go through a
process not unlike death and resurrection to them, and returned with the
appearance of a young bird. We do not
know whether this is scientifically true or not true. It may simply be that the appearance of new
plumage looked like renewed youth to the ancients.
[4] God
actually held an extended conversation with Moses. The elders received the same gift of the Holy
Ghost, so that they could understand and interpret: but they were not privy to
the conversation except as Moses reported it.
The Israelites we able to hear the Scriptural reports read, but could
not fully understand them without explanation, because the gift of the Holy
Ghost was not yet universally given to all believers, as it was at Pentecost.
