Forget Not His Benefits

Unsplash: Jon Tyson

As I've grown up in the church, somewhere along the line I've been taught to love God for "just being God" and not for what He can give me.

Several scriptures echo this sentiment as well: 

Paul encourages us to love and worship the Creator and not the creation in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans (see Rom 1:21-23).

James makes it clear in his letter to the church that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above (see 1:17).

And so it came as a refreshing surprise this week as I was in the Psalms to realize that David encourages us as God's people to "forget not God's benefits" in Psalm 103.  Look at verse 1 and 2 with me:

"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..."   Ps 103:1-2 (emphasis mine)

What follows these verses is a catalog of all the "benefits" we have as the covenant children of God that we can thank Him for:

• forgiveness of sins (v. 3, 10, 12)
• healing from diseases (v. 3)
• redemption from the pit (v. 4)
• a crown of streadfast love and mercy (v. 4, 11, 17)
• renewed energy and youthfulness (v. 5)
• justice and the working out of righteousness for us (v. 6)
• God's revealing of his ways to us (v. 7)
• His mercy and grace toward us (v. 8)
• God's compassion (v. 13)
• His seeing our weaknesses and loving us with compassion (v. 14-16)

When I think upon it, this concept of loving God for who He is AND for all the benefits He imparts to us makes sense. 

While I love my husband for the man that he is, I also love and appreciate how he provides for our family through a full-time job. I am blessed by the military and veteran benefits he and I both receive through income, health care, and life insurance. Do I love him because he provides a roof over my head and allows me to have adequate health insurance coverage? Of course not!  I would still love him if he suddenly became unemployed and we had to sell our home and live out our days in our minivan. BUT I can be thankful for him AND for all the benefits I enjoy as his wife (and be grateful I don't have to live out of a car!).

So today, dear friend, let's endeavor to praise God for who He is, yes, but also for all the benefits we enjoy as His children because of His deep and indescribable, unearned, and never-ending love He has for us.

Let us, in David's words "forget not His benefits" and may our day, our week, our year, our lives, never be the same for it!