Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2121
“Bless the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” Psalm 103:1.
BEFORE our friend who leads us in singing begins, we sometimes hear his tuning fork. He is getting the keynote into his ear. When he comes forward he often sounds out that keynote before he begins to sing. This is what David does in this wonderful Psalm. He sounds the tuning fork with this clear note—“Bless the Lord, O my Soul.” It is well for all to be ready to sing harmoniously—it is a pity when those who gather to worship do not know what they are doing. I wish I could always have you spiritually in tune and keep in tune myself. Alas, I fear we are often half a note too flat.
The words before us are the keynote of this Psalm and all the music is set to it and closes with it. Notice that the Psalm begins, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” and it ends in the same way, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” as if to show us that praise is the Alpha and the Omega of a Christian life. Praise is the life of life. So we begin; so we continue; so shall we end, world without end.
This Psalm has just as many verses in the original as there are letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It is an alphabetical Psalm as to number and so I may say that the A of it is, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” and the Z of it is, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul.” Oh, that our infancy would bless the Lord and our childhood and our youth bless the Lord—and our manhood and our old age bless the Lord! From the cradle to the tomb one line of sapphire, one streak of sparkling crystal should run through the entire mass of life—and that should be praise unto God.—
I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies!”
Oh, to have Heaven’s employment and Heaven’s enjoyment here below by never-ceasing praise! We need never make a pause in that of which we shall never make an end.
As I said in the exposition, there is no prayer in this Psalm—it is all praise right through and through. There are times in a Christian’s life when he feels as if praise employed the whole of his faculties and his own needs and faults and all about himself sank into insignificance. Usually we mix prayer and praise and they make up a delightful incense of mingled fragrance—but sometimes, when on Tabor’s top we stand transfigured with the light of God’s goodness—all we can do is praise His name. All that is within us is blessing Him and there is no faculty left with which to pray Him to bless us! This is an anticipation of the occupation and enjoyment of Heaven, where forever and forever we shall bless and praise and magnify the Thrice-holy God.
I. I call your attention, then, first to THE BLESSED OCCUPATION. “Bless the Lord, O my Soul” A truly wonderful word is this! How can we bless the Lord? For God to bless me I can understand and enjoy! But that it should be mentioned in Scripture that I can bless God is one of those incomprehensible things which, though certainly true, is not to be explained. For man to bless God is a sort of Incarnation—God in human flesh. God blessing me—that is Divine! But mysel/blessing Him—there is something of the human, but also somewhat of the Divine.
The Divine blesses the human or the human could not bless the Divine! God is with us or we could not be thus with God! Our blessing Him can only be the echo of His blessing us! The more you turn it over the more you will wonder at it. If it had said, “Praise the Lord, O my Soul,” that would have been reasonable—but, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” rises out of the region of reason into a still higher and more spiritual atmosphere! These are heavenly words—“Bless the Lord, O my Soul.”
But how can we bless God? We cannot add to His happiness, or increase His greatness, or enlarge His goodness. “O my Soul, you have said unto the Lord, You are my Lord: my goodness extends not unto You!” What can our poor drops contribute to the ocean? What can our nothingness bring to His all-sufficiency? What can our darkness contribute to His light? And yet, if the Bible says so, it must be so, for it never speaks in vain. Idle words are in the speech of man, not in the writings of Jehovah. If the Scripture teaches us to say, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” then it is a correct word. We may wonder at it, but we may not dispute it.
How, then, can we bless God? I answer, first, God blesses us by thinking well of us and we bless God by thinking well of Him. When the Lord says in His heart, “This people shall be blessed,” before ever He has stretched out His hand to give anything, we are blessed by His favorable regard for us. I beg you, in the same respect, to bless God by sweet, holy, adoring, loving, grateful thoughts of Him. Think well of Him who thinks so graciously of you! This, surely, is no task, no burden. Such thinking is the happiest exercise of the mental powers!