Dave’s Monday Blast – January 29, 2018
We are discovering from Psalm 103 that our relationship with God affords us some specific daily benefits/promises that He has resolved to keep. These blessings are priceless and David reminds us to be INTENTIONAL about remembering them daily!
The first two benefits in review from the last two weeks:
1. God forgives us all our iniquity (v.3a) They are no longer held against us.
2. God heals all your diseases (v.3b) Referring to every kind of illness, no matter its cause or symptom.
New this week:
3. God “redeems your life from the pit” (v. 4a). “Redeems” means to reclaim, to deliver, to ransom, to bring back. The “pit” refers to a trap or a grave. We think of Joseph thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers and then sold into slavery (Genesis 37: 24 – 28), or Jeremiah condemned to the muddy pit by the king (Jeremiah 38:1 – 13), or Daniel cast into the pit with lions (Daniel 6). No matter how godly we are today, we can be thrown into life’s pit tomorrow.
David doesn’t pretend that such pits don’t exist. Rather, he assumes a time when we will be in them. In such depths, remember that God “redeems your life from the pit.” He draws you out of the muck and mire. He delivers you from the trap. He takes you from where you are to where he wants you to be.
Pastor Jim Denison of the Denison Forum comments, “I often note that ‘God redeems all He allows.’ Because He is love (1 John 4:8), He must want what is best for us. Because He is all-knowing, He knows all that happens to us. Because He is all-powerful, He can do whatever His character calls Him to do. Because He is perfect, He can never make a mistake. Therefore, our Father must redeem for a greater good every challenge we face, or He made a mistake in allowing it. This fact does not mean that we will always see or understand such redemption in this world. But while we see in a mirror dimly today, one day we will see ‘face to face’. On that day we shall know fully, even as we are fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12).
On that day, we will see all the ways God made good from bad, all the ways He used our challenges to grow our faith and advance His Kingdom, all the ways He blessed us and redeemed us in the hard places we face. In the meantime, we can mark it down: ‘The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed (v. 6). He ‘redeems your life from the pit,’ every time.” He is always about His business, and His business is you!
Next week benefit # 4 God loves you (v. 4b).
