Bless The Lord, O My Soul

Fall came in like a lion this week. I know I’m mixing my metaphors and changing the season this phrase was written for, but trust me - it’s the truth. I think half the leaves on the property blew into another county over the weekend, and I even had to wear earmuffs in the mornings to take the dogs outside. That’s Iowa in October for you.

But despite all this, I have to ask myself if my heart’s in the right place. Am I more concerned about getting a few more minutes of sleep than getting up and doing Bible study? Do I mumble under a my breath as I take the puppies out into the cold, or am I thankful that we have three amazing companions? Heart condition and heart attitude are so important in every season, not just when the sun is shining and the temperatures are warm.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1

Between Psalm 103 and 104, we find the phrase Bless the Lord, O my soul five times. We don’t know if it was David who wrote Psalm 104, but the repeated use of this phrase leads many scholars to think he did. The writer doesn’t really matter, but the God he’s speaking about and the heart attitude he has matters very much.

David begins Psalm 103 with these words, reminding himself that blessings are necessary here. The word bless is defined as praise and thanksgiving, neither of which comes naturally. Our minds and hearts have to be trained to bless, praise and give thanks. So David stirs up everything inside him to bless the Lord. Sometimes we need a little cheerleading in our lives, don’t we?

In Psalm 103:2, David encourages himself to remember all the benefits and blessings God has given. They’re all praiseworthy and perfect. In Psalm 103:22 and Psalm 104:1, he writes about the greatness of God’s works and thee honor and majesty of the Lord. David looked beyond the circumstances of the day and used his time more productively - giving honor to God, praising Him and thanking Him for all He had done.

And then he wraps things up at the end of Psalm 104 the way he began it, with the words Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 104:35

My prayer for all of us this week is that we will spend more time blessing, praising and thanking God for His work in our lives than we do mumbling and complaining. When our focus is on the greatness of God, our tiny little situations don’t seem so important or concerning. So let’s look at the blessings of God and name them ton by ton.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more