Thankful From The Soul

THANKSGIVING 2022: THANKFUL FROM THE SOUL

PSALM 103:1-22

#thanksgiving2022

INTRODUCTION

Apparently when I read Psalm 103, my heart likes it. I say I like it because as I sat down to prepare this sermon I noticed, by way of how I save my sermons, that I had already preached a sermon on Psalm 103 previously. I looked it up. I preached on Psalm 103 two years ago at Thanksgiving time just like I will this year. I can’t help it, my soul likes Psalm 103. Lets read from Psalm 103 this morning, but we are going to read it from the Message version which is the version I have been listening to recently in the Bible app. Pro-Christian Tip: the YouVersion Bible App has some versions of the Bible that have audio included that you can listen to when driving or drifting off to sleep or whenever you like.

Let’s read Psalm 103.

READ PSALM 103:1-22 (MSG)

1-2 O my soul, bless GOD. From head to toe, I’ll bless His holy name! O my soul, bless GOD, don’t forget a single blessing!3-5 He forgives your sins—every one. He heals your diseases—every one. He redeems you from hell—saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown. He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal. He renews your youth—you’re always young in His presence. 6-18 GOD makes everything come out right; He puts victims back on their feet. He showed Moses how He went about His work, opened up His plans to all Israel. GOD is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, He’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is His love to those who fear Him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, He has separated us from our sins. As parents feel for their children, GOD feels for those who fear Him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud. Men and women don’t live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here. GOD’s love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear Him, Making everything right for them and their children as they follow His Covenant ways and remember to do whatever He said. 19-22 GOD has set His throne in heaven; He rules over us all. He’s the King! So bless GOD, you angels, ready and able to fly at His bidding, quick to hear and do what He says. Bless GOD, all you armies of angels, alert to respond to whatever He wills. Bless GOD, all creatures, wherever you are— everything and everyone made by GOD. And you, O my soul, bless GOD!

THE SOUL OF THANKFULNESS

The Psalm begins and ends talking about the “soul.” The original word in Hebrew in Psalm 103 is a word that means “the self, life, the substance of a living being, the inner being of a person.” It comes from a word that means “to take a breath.”

The word “soul” is used in two different ways in the Bible.

The first way is that the soul is the innermost part of us that animates us. For example, in 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah prays and a child is brought back to life after he prays that the boy’s soul would return to him. Soul is animating life that drives the heart and breathing and brain activity. That is why the same comparative word in the New Testament is translated “life” like in Mark 8:35-37 when Jesus says: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?” In those verses, soul and life are the same thing.

The second way is that the soul is the inner life of a person and is what makes him or her unique and I would say made in the image of God. This is the word used in Genesis 2:7 (ESV): “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” I think the KJV on this verse is a little more clear: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The soul is the seat of emotions and memories and desires and love and thoughts.