Psalms 102–104: Bless Yahweh & Forget None Of His Benefits

Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 35: Wednesday

O Yahweh, hear my prayer!
And let my cry for help come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call answer me quickly.

Psalm 103:1–2 LSB

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Wednesday’s Bible reading is Psalms 102–104.

Have you ever thought about how the psalms teach you about God? We see the psalmists as they call on God in all of the circumstances of their lives. We know their affliction and doubt, their deliverance and joy. As they call on God they also teach us who God is. What is your life like today? What are your circumstances? What do you need to know or to remember about who God is?The Bible is God’s Word. It is God’s revelation of Himself to us. In the prayers of the psalmists, as they call on God, God is teaching you how to call on Him and who He is.

I lie awake,
I have become like a lonely bird on a roof.

Psalm 102:7 LSB

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When you read Psalm 102 think about what you learn of the psalmist’s life at that moment? What is he experiencing (verses 1–11)?

He has turned toward the prayer of the destitute
And has not despised their prayer.

Psalm 102:17 LSB

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What does he call to mind about who God is (verses 12–28)?

Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits.

Psalm 103:1–2 LSB

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In Psalm 103 why is he thankful? What are the benefits he has received from God? What does he say about who God is?

Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

Psalm 103:8 LSB

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Look for the answers interwoven in the psalm as he tells what God does and then describes who God is.

How numerous are Your works, O Yahweh!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.

Psalm 104:24 LSB

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Is Psalm 104 what does he say about God’s works and what they reveal about God (verses 1–32)?

Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever;
Let Yahweh be glad in His works.

Psalm 104:31 LSB

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What is his reaction to who God is (verses 33–35)?

B. B. Warfield writes:

“God is a person, and persons are known only as they make themselves known — reveal themselves.

“…Revealed religion comes to man from without; it is imposed upon him from a source superior to his own spirit.

“…we do not see in revelation man reaching up lame hands toward God and feeling fumblingly after Him if haply he may find Him, but God graciously reaching strong hands down to man, bringing him help in his need, we see in it a gift from God, not a creation of man’s.”¹

Warfield also has this insight, “Authority is the correlate of revelation.”² We cannot impose our ideas of who God is upon Him; we cannot look within to know God—we must look to His Word because it is there He has revealed Himself to us.

As John Owen comments:

“Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice, and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers. We could never know who God is, how He is to be worshiped, or wherein true happiness lies.”³

One of the great benefits of the Psalms is to see God revealed in the prayers and praise of the writers.

This will be written for the generation to come,
And a people yet to be created will praise Yah.

Psalm 102:18 LSB

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As you read the Bible ask the Lord to help you to know Him as He is.

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For a brief overview of the structure and poetry of Psalms see my post, The Five Books of Psalms.
Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Am Tisch (At the Table): Jozef Israëls. Public Domain.
^1,2Benjamin B. Warfield, “Mysticism & Christianity,” The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, vol. IX (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids MI: 1932, Reprinted 2003) 649, 650; 650. In this article Warfield discusses mysticism as a man-made religion, contrasting it with God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture.
³John Owen, Biblical Theology: The History of Theology from Adam to Christ, translated by Stephen P. Westcott (Soli Deo Gloria Publications, Grand Rapids MI: 1994) xl.

I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.