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Goodness of God

The Blessedness of a Blessing God!

Psalm 103:1–5 (NKJV):

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Verse 1 explodes with blessing, worship, praise and adoration to our wonderful, blessing God!

Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! And this blessing and worship of God is not without reason or cause, verse 2:

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits

And now those incredible, life-transforming benefits that are given to us by God who is good and loving (notice the couplets):

  • 3a Who forgives all your iniquities,
    • 3b Who heals all your diseases,

  • 4a Who redeems your life from destruction,
    • 4b Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

  • 5Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
    • 5b So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

And I am the recipient of such blessings!

Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
God has forgiven all my many iniquities! All because of what Christ did for me through His life of total obedience to the Father, all the way to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 10:1-10).

God has healed me of cancer, of COVID-19 (twice), of many ills in my body and soul!

Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

God has intervened thousands of times to redeem (rescue and buy back) my life from destruction! JESUS is my Kinsman-Redeemer! He has “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 2:13-14). I have even been rescued from the bullets of a gunman who came to our workplace and shot at brave police officers who were there to protect us and many others!

Not only does God lift me, redeem me and rescue me from destruction, He also “crowns me with lovingkindness and tender mercies!”

Oh, how I love that Hebrew word for “lovingkindness”: hesed! This incredible word is power-packed with God’s love toward me: a faithful and strong kind of covenant-keeping Love! This was the hallmark of King David’s life. No one else in scripture mentioned God’s hesed love more than David! I believe that God’s hesed was truly the secret behind David’s success! And God’s hesed, faithful, strong, covenant Love is also the secret behind my success!

Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

No one and no thing can satisfy the thirst, hunger and desires of our life like God Himself! No one and no thing! I’m so glad that God has created us for enjoyment, satisfaction and pleasure… and the greatest enjoyment and pleasure of our lives is God Himself!

You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

God is no “kill joy”. He is he architect of satisfaction and pleasure. Truly, there is no greater satisfaction and pleasure for spirit, soul and body than God Himself!

“So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”

Even though I am in my 60’s, I take no heed to what the world says about “aging”. But I sure pay a lot of attention to what God says! He says that He renews my youth like the eagle’s! Soaring high above the dangers and problems below, lofted by His glorious presence!

As I feed and delight in God… He renews my youth!

And the wonderful thing is, I am living forever, thanks to what The Lord Jesus Christ has done for me! His life and blood spent for me! Such Love, such Love, such wondrous Love!

How I praise Him for how good He is, how loving He is, how faithful, strong, wise, forgiving, healing, redeeming, crowning, satisfying and renewing He really is!

Oh, my heart and my soul want to explode and say:

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:

(c) 2022, Mark D. VanOuse

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Blessed #3: Perfect Forgiveness & Healing

[This is Part 3 of the series, “Blessed Beyond Imagination”] We continue with a veritable feast of God’s blessings & benefits, found in Psalm 103. Today, we look at:

  • God’s TOTAL forgiveness – no matter how great the iniquity or sin, God’s love and grace makes possible a perfect and forever forgiveness, based on the perfection of Jesus Christ and His perfect, finished work. This teaching will truly set you free to enjoy your relationship with God!
  • Temporary forgiveness (people misusing 1 John 1:9) vs. the forever forgiveness of ALL our sins, whether past, present or future.
  • God’s healing – He heals ALL of our diseases. Jesus, the image of the Father, “healed all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people”. Jesus did this because that was what The Father was doing. Our Father is still healing through Jesus IN US today.

[Scripture: Psalm 103:3, various]

CC by-nc-nd 2016 Mark D. VanOuseThis recording is under a Creative Commons copyright license.

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Blessed #2: Forget Not His Benefits

[This is Part 2 of the series, “Blessed Beyond Imagination”] It’s amazing how FORGETFUL we can be. One moment we get a deeper, fresher glimpse of the blessing of God…. and the next, we forget that word of blessing, when we open up an unexpected bill in the mail. In this episode we learn:

  • The blessings of God reflect His great heart of love for us.
  • God’s blessing PRECEDES anything truly good that we could ever do for Him.
  • We begin looking at Psalm 103, a psalm rich in telling of the blessings and benefits of God.
  • The blessings of God lead us to wholehearted worship and praise of Him.
  • How that the blessing of God transformed a “nobody” into a great king.

CC by-nc-nd 2016 Mark D. VanOuse
This recording is under a Creative Commons copyright license.

 

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Blessed #1: Introduction to the Blessing of God

[This is Part 1 of the “Blessed Beyond Imagination Series”]

Many times, we greet each other with “How are you?” For the believer, our answer really is “Blessed beyond imagination!”. In this introductory episode, you’ll find out why, as we learn:

  • That God is the source of all blessing. He blesses us because He is good.
  • A Blessing Scripture Parade – presenting a sampling of the many wonderful scriptures about the blessing of God.
  • Blessing: What it is and is not.

[Scriptures: Eph 1:3, Gen 1:22, Gen 1:27-28, Deut 28:14, Prov 10:6-7, 10:22, 28:20, Isaiah 44:2-5, Rom 8:32 & 15:29]


CC by-nc-nd 2016 Mark D. VanOuse
This recording is under a Creative Commons copyright license.

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