The Best Benefits Package Ever – Part 2

Psalm 103:4b-8a (NKJV)
^4bWho 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.⁶ The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed ⁷ He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

When you receive Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life, God provides you with the most generous benefits package imaginable. It actually contains two different areas of application.  In Psalm 103: 1-4a, the benefits of being redeemed from the Curse (Gal. 3:13) are discussed. (See Living Word entry for October 2019) In Psalm 103: 4b-8 the benefits of being Redeemed unto THE BLESSING are covered.

THE BLESSING was God’s original intent for His creation.  When God created man He BLESSED him, meaning He empowered him to prosper in every area of His life. Adam and Eve forfeited THE BLESSING when they yielded to the serpent’s temptation. From the moment that happened God began carrying out His plan to get THE BLESSING back to man.  That plan culminated when Jesus sacrificed His life on the Cross. With that sacrifice, THE BLESSING became available once more to anyone who accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life.

Consider what God has redeemed us unto…

v 4b: Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies – According to Strong’s Concordance the word crown means to “encircle.” God has chosen to encircle His children with loving kindness and tender mercies.  That creates a barrier that protects us from the evils of this fallen world.

v 5: Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. According to Strong’s Concordance, the word thing(s) means “word”.  So, it can be said that God gives us good words (His Word) and when we say what He says about us our youth can be renewed.  That means in this fallen world aging does not have to result in our getting old and being in declining health; we do get older, but we can still enjoy a full life until the time of our departure to our heavenly home.

v 6: The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. God established man in righteousness – meaning, being in right-standing before Him.  In this fallen world when the enemy makes accusations against us, God’s response to those accusations is “not guilty by the BLOOD of the Lamb!”  

v 7: He made known His ways to Moses… Before the Cross God spoke through His Spirit to certain men on occasion. After the Cross, God sent His Holy Spirit to live within believers and “make His ways known” to them continually. In this fallen world, we have an edge because we can be led by God’s very own Spirit all the time.

v 8: The Lord is merciful and gracious… God chooses to deal with us based on His mercy and grace.  In this fallen world it means that we don’t get what we deserve (that is called mercy); instead, we get what we don’t deserve (that is called grace). We live our lives sandwiched between the two.

Psalm 103 is a powerful reminder of the totality of God’s provision for His children.  We would do well to become very familiar with each provision. In doing so, we will be drawn to the heart of the One who provided them.  And, that’s really what THE BLESSING was all about from the beginning!

11/2019