12 December 9, 2012 Psalm 103 Yahweh Our Father

YAHWEH OUR FATHER
PSALM 103:1-18

DECEMBER 9, 2012
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

The most widely accepted
pronunciation of Yahweh
is:

YOH vah = LORD
Similar to:
ye HO vah (Jehovah)

December 16

YAHWEH OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Jeremiah 23:5-6
Romans 3:1-26
Romans 10:1-13

December 23

DR. BILL ASHFORD

The Real Christmas

December 30

No Sunday School

One Worship Service

at 10:30 am

Focal Passages Psalm 103:
*Yahweh Gives
Undeserved Love vv. 1-6
*Yahweh Displays
Unequaled Love vv. 8-12
*Yahweh Extends
Unceasing Love vv.13,17-18

What This Lesson Is
About:
David praised God for the
benefits we receive from
Him as a result of His
faithful love to His
children.

David compared God
with a compassionate
father, and we see God as
the loving Father He is
toward His children.

This lesson can help us
rejoice and rely on the
Father’s love.

How deep the Father’s
love for us
How vast beyond all
measure
That He should give His
only Son
To make a wretch His

We need to discover and
experience the love of
God our Father.

Psalm 103:1-18 HCSB

1 “My soul, praise
Yahweh,
and all that is within me,
praise His holy name.

2 My soul, praise
the Lord,
and do not forget all His
benefits.

3 He forgives all your sin;
He heals all your diseases.

4 He redeems your life
from the Pit;
He crowns you with
faithful love and
compassion.

5 He satisfies you with
goodness; your youth is
renewed like the eagle.
6 The Lord executes acts
of righteousness and
justice for all the
oppressed.

7 He revealed His ways to
Moses, His deeds to the
people of Israel.
8 The Lord is
compassionate and
gracious, slow to anger
and rich in faithful love.

9 He will not always
accuse us or be angry
forever.
10 He has not dealt with
us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to
our offenses.

11 For as high as the
heavens are above the
earth, so great is His
faithful love toward those
who fear Him.

12 As far as the east is
from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from
us.

13 As a father has
compassion on his
children,
so the Lord has
compassion on those who
fear Him.

14 For He knows what we
are made of,
remembering that we are
dust.
15 As for man, his days
are like grass—he blooms
like a flower of the field;

16 when the wind passes
over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer
known.
17 But from eternity to
eternity the Lord’s faithful
love is toward

those who fear Him,
and His righteousness
toward the grandchildren
18 of those who keep His
covenant,who remember to
observe His precepts.”
Psalm 103:1-18

*Psalms has been
described has humanity’s
hymnbook because the
songs came out of the life
experiences of people as
human as we are.

The beautiful poems of
praise, thanksgiving, and
petition echo our
approaches to God and
often serve as expressions
of our worship.

The psalmists faced many
of the crises, problems,
and doubts we face.
*They had many of the
same fears we have, and
they hurt as deeply as we
sometimes do.

*They asked many of the
questions we ask about
life and God’s
involvement in it.

Through their varied
experiences runs the
strong, sustained note of
faith in their covenant
God.

Their stubborn trust in
Him offers inspiration
and encouragement to us
as we continue our
pilgrimage of faith.

Yahweh Gives
Undeserved Love
Psalm 103:1-6 HCSB
1 “My soul, praise
Yahweh,
and all that is within me,
praise His holy name.

2 My soul, praise the
Lord, and do not forget
all His benefits.

3 He forgives all your
sin; He heals all your
diseases.

4 He redeems your life
from the Pit;
He crowns you with
faithful love and
compassion.
5 He satisfies you with
goodness;

your youth is renewed
like the eagle.
6 The Lord executes acts
of righteousness
and justice for all the
oppressed.”
Psalm 103:1-6

In verse 1, King David
called on himself (his
“soul”) to praise Yahweh:
1“Bless the Lord, O my
soul: and all that is
within me, bless His holy
name.” Psalm 103:1 KJV

In poetic parallelism, he
repeated the summons to
himself in different
words.

*The phrase “all that is
within me” referred to his
total self, and the words
“His holy name” referred
to God in His
separateness from
humans, His exaltation.

*In verse 2, David
continued to encourage
himself to praise the
Lord.
2 “Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all
His benefits:”

*The repetition of the
words my soul in verses 1
and 2 mark the psalm as
deeply personal and has
prompted the view that
David designed it for
people’s personal worship.

*The Hebrew term
rendered benefits means
“deeds” or “dealings” and
refers to God’s gracious,
merciful acts (deeds of
undeserved love) on His
people’s behalf.

*David knew the danger
of taking God’s provisions
for granted or of willfully
disregarding them and
wanted to retain a keen
awareness of the
undeserved blessings he

*In verses 3-5, David
recounted some of God’s
gracious acts for him and
his people.
3“Who forgiveth all thine
iniquities; Who healeth
all thy diseases;”

*David began listing
God’s merciful acts with
His forgiveness.
*With the statement, He
forgives all your sin,
David continued to
address himself.

*Did he have in mind his
committing adultery with
Bathsheba and having her
husband Uriah killed (see
2 Sam. 11:1-27)?

Psalm 51 is his agonized
prayer for forgiveness:

Psalm 32 is his joyous
celebration of being
forgiven:
1 “How joyful is the one
whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is
covered!

2 How joyful is the man
the Lord does not charge
with sin and in whose
spirit is no deceit!

5 You took away the guilt
of my sin.

7 You are my hiding
place;
You protect me from
trouble. You surround
me with joyful shouts of
deliverance.

11 Be glad in the Lord and
rejoice, you righteous
ones; shout for joy,
all you upright in heart.”

Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7 & 11
HCSB

David wrote from his
experience of being
forgiven for horrible
things he did against God
and he celebrated God’s
incredible mercy.

The Hebrew word
translated forgives means:
to let go,
to pardon,
to send away,
(a continuous action).

Leviticus 16:8 -
*the escape goat*
*“the sender away of sins”
William Tyndale dropped
the “e” and translated it
scapegoat in his 1530
Bible, which the KJV kept.

Jesus Christ is seen to
have fulfilled both of the
Biblical "types" - the
Lord's goat that deals
with the pollution of sin
and the scapegoat that
removes the "burden of

sin". Christians believe
that sinners who own
their guilt and confess
their sins, exercising faith
and trust in the person
and sacrifice of Jesus, are
forgiven of their sins.

3 “He forgives all your
sin;
He heals all your
diseases.”
Psalm 103:3

*The term translated sin
means
“moral crookedness,”
“going astray,” or
“guilt.”

*David declared that God
is ready to forgive
people’s wrongdoing with
the implication that they
repent as a condition of
pardon.

*Because of God’s love,
you do not need to be
afraid to approach Him in
repentance.
*To the contrary, you need
to embrace His
forgiveness.

Our Great High Priest
Hebrews 4:14-16 HCSB
14 “Therefore, since we
have a great high priest
Who has passed through
the heavens—Jesus the
Son of God—let us hold

fast to the confession.
15 For we do not have a
high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but One Who
has been tested in every
way as we are, yet

without sin.
16 Therefore let us
approach the throne of
grace with boldness, so
that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help us
at the proper time.”

*You can experience
God’s forgiveness because
He loves you, not because
you have made up for the
wrong you have done.

*Next, David reminded
himself that God healed
all his diseases.
*Most likely David had
physical, mental, and
emotional healing in
mind.

*Yet in a real sense, no
matter the cause of
physical, mental, or
emotional difficulties,
God is the Source of
healing.

*Researchers, physicians,
medications, and
treatments can assist the
process, but ultimately
God brings physical
wholeness.

*He gives peace of mind
and serene confidence in
His loving care.

*The surgeon can cut but
only the Lord can heal!

4 “He redeems your life
from the Pit;
He crowns you with
faithful love and
compassion.”

Psalm 103:4

*God acted as David’s
kinsman-redeemer, his
Next-of-Kin Who rescued
him from bondage.
*The term redeems could
convey the senses of
protection and

*Redemption has the idea
of liberating someone
through payment of a
price.
*The Israelites were
redeemed from slavery in
Egypt through God’s

mighty acts.
*To celebrate this truth,
they redeemed their
firstborn sons by offering
sacrifices, reflecting their
sons’ being spared during
the tenth plague.

*God had delivered
(rescued) David from the
Pit in verse 4.
*The phrase the Pit was a
designation for Sheol, the
place of the departed
dead.

The Hebrew term
rendered Pit can also
mean “destruction”—
anything that could have
taken David’s life.

*Either way, David
stressed that God had
pulled him back from the
brink of death so that he
continued to live.
*The emphasis is on God’s
granting recovery.

*Not only had God pulled
David from the clutches of
death, but He also related
to David with faithful
love and compassion. (He
crowns you with faithful
love and compassion.) v4

*The Hebrew verb
translated crowns literally
means “to surround,”
“to compass.”

*The noun means
“crown” or “wreath.”

*The verb has the sense of
God’s freely giving His
blessings.
*The Hebrew term
rendered faithful love
means “loving-kindness,”
“mercy”.

(He crowns you with
faithful love and
compassion.) *The term
rendered compassion
(literally, “compassions”)
has the sense of attentive
tenderness.

5 “He satisfies you with
goodness;
like the eagle.”

Psalm 103:5

*The word satisfies has
the sense of receiving
more than enough, of
being filled.

(“He satisfies you…” v5)
*The Hebrew term
rendered you has been
taken as a reference to
David’s soul (life).
*He satisfies your life with
goodness.

5 “He satisfies your
life with goodness;
like the eagle.”

Psalm 103:5

David’s emphasis was on
the abundance God
supplied, which renewed
his youth like the eagle.
Because of the eagle’s
swift movements, it
symbolized strength.

*Its size and
comparatively long life
added to the image.

*Because it renewed its
plumage, it also may have
symbolized youth.

*We view the eagle as a
symbol of strength and
authority, which is why
our country embraced it
as our national bird.

Qualities of the eagle that
captured the imagination
of the writers of Scripture:
Soaring – the ability to
stay aloft (Isa. 40:31 and
Psalm 103:5) was a
mystery to the wise men

(Proverbs 30:19) as well as
a picture of divine
protection (Exodus 19:4).
*Another major
characteristic of the eagle
is its ability to strike a
killing blow (Deut 28:49).

Coupled with its striking
ability is the quality of
speed.

*Our fountain of youth is
not something we drink,
nor is it the product of the
newest cream we apply to
our faces.

*What keeps us young
and renews our strength –
regardless of our
biological age – is God’s
commitment to us and
our relationship with
Him.

Exodus 19:4 tells of
Yahweh’s guidance of
Israel through the
wilderness as
accomplished “on eagles’
wings.”

*This symbol of
deliverance and
protection almost
certainly relates to the
eagle’s care for its young.

*The golden eagle teaches
its young to fly by forcing
them from the nest and
then hovering over and
under them.

*During this training the
eagle appears to be
carrying the eaglets.

*The eagle was a symbol
to the Jews of God’s
omnipotence and
protection (Ex. 19:4 and
Deut. 32:11).

6 “The Lord executes acts
of righteousness
and justice for all the
oppressed.
7 He revealed His ways to
Moses, His deeds to the
people of Israel.”

*David broadened reasons
to praise God that
included other Israelites
as well as himself (vv. 6-
8).

*The Lord (Yahweh,
covenant God) executed
acts of righteousness and
justice for all the
oppressed.

*The phrase acts of
righteousness referred to
God’s fulfilling His
covenant obligations (and
perhaps to the benefits
listed in vv. 3-5).

*Justice had the force of
upholding the rights of
people who were
deprived of them.

*The oppressed were
people who were
wronged, who were
victims of extortion.

*The Old Testament
emphasizes that God is on
the side of the oppressed.

*He champions their
cause.

*Although the comparison
of God with a father does
not occur until verse 13,
verses 2-6 support and
define a compassionate
father’s character.

*Be aware that as God’s
child you enjoy the
benefits David outlined.

*Offer the Lord praise and
thanks for all His benefits!

*David stated that the
Lord had “revealed His
ways to Moses” (v. 7).

*Yahweh Gives
Undeserved Love vv. 1-6
*Yahweh Displays
*Yahweh Extends
Unceasing Love v 13, 17-18

Psalm 103:8-12

8 “The Lord is
compassionate and
gracious,
slow to anger and rich in
faithful love.

11 For as high as the
earth,
so great is His faithful
love toward those who
fear Him.

12 As far as the east is
from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from
us.”

Psalm 103:8-12

*David continued to
outline the benefits God
gave His people.

*These benefits flowed
from God’s character.

*David’s statement in
verse 8 echoes Exodus
34:6b, where God partially
revealed His character to
Moses.

*In Psalm 103:8, David
listed four qualities of
God’s character
demonstrated in His
dealings with His people.

*First, the Lord is
compassionate.

*Yahweh, the faithful
covenant God, is merciful.

*Second, God is gracious.

*The word gracious was
used only of God in the
Old Testament.

*The verb means “to show
favor” with the
implication that God’s
favor is not based on
people’s deserving it but
is a facet of His character.

*The noun form means
“grace.”
*Third, Yahweh is slow to
anger.
*He is forbearing and
suffers long with people’s
sins.

*He does not nurture
(“keep”) His anger.
*Fourth, God is rich in
[abounding in] faithful
love—covenant love;
loving kindness;
goodness.

*David used a courtroom
term to stress that God
did not carry His
legitimate quarrel or
contention with His
people to the full extent.

*He would not always
accuse them; He would
not constantly find fault
with them and berate
them.

*Rather, He would deal
with their sin and would
not continue punishment
beyond that point.
*Furthermore, God would
not hold a grudge against
His people.

*Unlike humans, He
would not nurture (keep
or guard) His anger with
a view to unleashing it for
personal satisfaction.

*David was acutely
conscious of God’s great
mercy.
*The Lord had not dealt
with the Israelites as they
had deserved.
*Their sins were many.

*The Hebrew term
rendered sins comes from
a word that means “to
miss the mark,” “to not
follow the right path.”

*The Israelites often had
failed to meet God’s
standards, to perform
their covenant duties.

*The term translated
offenses comes from a
word that means “to twist
or bend” or from a term
that means “to commit
error, to go astray.”

*David had in mind
deliberate acts of moral
perversity, crookedness,
or error.

*These wrongs against
God called for severe
consequences, yet He had
not reacted vindictively.

*He did not deal out to
them the devastating
consequences for which
their wrongs called.

*This truth stressed that
God’s purpose is to return
sinners to His “right
paths” (Ps. 23:3) by
exercising mercy.
*He delights in pardon,
not punishment.

*The introductory word
for in verse 11 connects
what follows with verses
8-10, especially verse 8.
11 “For as high as the
earth…”

*Because God is rich in
faithful love, He did not
mete out what the
Israelites’ sins deserved.

*In verse 11, David
returned to his emphasis
on the scope and depth of
God’s faithful love,
which is unique and
unequaled.

*Unlike many people’s
expressions of love as an
emotion, God’s love is
unconditional and
constant, never wavering
in intensity.

*David used the greatest
expanse he knew to
describe the vastness of
God’s loyal, covenant
love.

*To him, the distance
between the heavens and
the earth was beyond
measuring.

*Thus, God’s steadfast
love was great (strong,
powerful) beyond the
mind’s ability to calculate.
*His unfailing love was
directed toward people
who feared Him.

*The Hebrew term
rendered fear has the
ideas of awe, reverence,
and honor (respect).

*People who followed
God—who reverenced
Him and sought to keep
His covenant demands—
experienced His constant
kindness.

*They also experienced
His forgiveness.

*Transgressions were acts
of rebellion against God’s
authority.

*The root Hebrew word
has the force of willful
revolt, of defiance.

*To David, the greatest
lateral distance was east
to west, sunrise to sunset.

*God’s removing His
people’s willful
disobedience that far
pictured unmitigated
forgiveness.

*Implied is that God’s
forgiveness followed the
people’s confession and
repentance.

*David was not describing
God’s easy tolerance of
sin but His willingness to
extend grace to repentant
sinners.

*How can we demonstrate
reverence for God?
*We can do so by keeping
His commandments.
*We cannot presume on
God’s love and adopt an
“anything goes” attitude.

*His loving us does not
mean we can sin without
reaping the consequences.

*When we sin, we need to
return to God quickly for
forgiveness and grace.

*When we confess and
repent, His forgiveness is
complete.

*We should be grateful
that God’s love is greater
than our sins against Him.

*These verses,
particularly verse 12, are
favorites among many
Christians as
demonstrations of God’s
vast, unequaled love.

*Ponder the reality of
having your sins
removed “as far as the
east is from the west.”

*Thank God for such
love.

*Yahweh Gives Undeserved
Love vv. 1-6
*Yahweh Displays
*Yahweh Extends
Unceasing Love vv.13,17-18

Psalm 103:13,17-18
13 “As a father has
compassion on his
children,
so the Lord has
compassion on those who
fear Him.

17 But from eternity to
eternity the Lord’s
faithful love is toward
those who fear Him,
and His righteousness
toward the grandchildren

18 of those who keep His
covenant,
who remember to
observe His precepts.”

Psalm 103:13, 17-18

*David compared an ideal
father’s relationship with
his children and God’s
relationship with His
people.

*Psalm 68:5 states God is
“a father of the
fatherless”; and in Psalm
89:26-27, God through the
psalmist declared David
would address Him as
“my Father” and that God

would make David His
“firstborn.”

*God through the prophet
Hosea said: “When Israel
was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called
My son” (Hos. 11:1).

*In Psalm 103:13,
however, the concept of
God as Father is fleshed
out and personalized.
*Keep in mind that David
used the word father in
the best possible sense.

*A model father has
compassion on his
children.

*He is affectionate, caring,
and tender in his
treatment of them.

*God has compassion on
those who fear Him—
people who reverence
Him and faithfully
discharge their covenant
responsibilities.

Word Study: compassion
(v. 13; “pitieth,” KJV)
*In the Scriptures, the
Hebrew word translated
has compassion most often
describes God as the One
exercising compassion.

*The term means “to be
soft,” “to be gentle,” “to
love.”

*It can be translated “has
mercy.”

*It conveys the sense of a
mother’s tender care for
her child.

*David may have used the
term to stress the intensity
of God’s deepest feelings
toward His people—His
heartfelt concern for them.

*God expressed His deep
emotion in protective care
and acts of provision.

*He also expressed it in
gracious forbearance and
forgiveness (see v. 8).

*Jesus would fill out the
concept of God as the
compassionate Father in
His parable in Luke 15:11-
32.

*The story’s centerpiece is
in verse 20:
“His [the returning son’s]
father … was filled with
compassion.”

*Later, the father would
show the same
compassion for the
sulking older brother.

*God is like that.

*His compassion merits
our deepest gratitude and
highest praise.
1. Fred M. Wood, Psalms:
Songs From Life (Nashville:
Convention Press, 1984),
3.

*The incredible truth is
that God feels for us and
with us and relates to us
in love.

*He presents a superb
example for human
fathers to follow in
relating to their children.

stressed that God not only
is compassionate but also
is understanding.
*He keeps in mind that
humans are frail and their
lives are brief.

*They flourish for a short
time and pass on, leaving
no lasting sign behind.

*Yet in spite of their frailty
and short lives, people
who relate to God in
reverent obedience are
subjects of His attentive
goodness.

*God’s faithful love
(covenant love, loving
kindness, mercy) for His
people is everlasting—
constant, unfailing.

*From eternity to eternity
conveys the sense of
God’s mercy constantly
overarching or spanning
above people faithful to
Him.

*Stated another way,
God’s faithful love for His
faithful people is eternal.

*Note carefully David’s
emphasis that people who
strive to keep covenant
with God receive His
loving kindness.

*God loves all people and
works to bring them into
relationship with Him,
but those who reject His
love shut themselves off
from His benefits.

*People who respond in
faithful love to Him
experience His
righteousness—His
graciousness that
maintains the covenant
ties.

*Included may be the idea
that God rewards His
people’s faithfulness.

*That He would act
mercifully toward their
grandchildren indicates
faithful people’s influence
on future generations so
that God’s benefits would
be extended to them.

*David defined what
fearing God meant (see v.
17).
*To keep His covenant
was to fulfill covenant
obligations—to meet the
agreed-on terms.

*In poetic parallelism,
David stressed that God
blessed people who
observe His precepts—
His charges to them or
His appointed decrees.

*The Hebrew term has the
sense of something
committed to a person’s
care.

*To remember God’s
precepts meant much
more than calling them to
mind; it meant acting on
them in obedience.

called on everything in
God’s kingdom to praise
the sovereign Ruler.

*David exhorted the
“angels of great strength,”
who obeyed God’s
commands, to praise Him.

*In the same way, “His
armies”—either heaven’s
hosts or the heavenly
bodies (stars and planets)
were to praise God.

*Even “all His works” in
the universe were to offer
praise.
*David’s call to praise
God peaked with his
exhortation to himself to
“praise Yahweh!” (v. 22).

*In the previous lesson’s
focus on Yahweh, the
great I AM, we saw a
picture of God, Who
stands above and apart
from us.

*Psalm 103 emphasizes
that, as almighty and
other-than-us as God is,
He also reaches out to us
as a loving Father.

*This truth should not
breed over-familiarity but
reverent gratitude, utmost
respect, and ready
obedience.

Biblical Truths

• God graciously
provides marvelous
benefits for His people,
the chief of which is His
undeserved love.

• God’s love is greater
than our sins against Him;
and when we repent, He
grants complete
forgiveness.

• God’s love and
forgiveness call for our
grateful obedience, not an
“anything goes” attitude.

• People who reverence
God and keep His
covenant experience the
full benefits of His
fatherly love for eternity.

Reflecting on God’s
undeserved, unequaled,
unceasing love should
create great rejoicing in
your heart.

Ask Him to help you
constantly remember and
rely on His love.

12 December 9, 2012 Psalm 103 Yahweh Our Father

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12 December 9, 2012 Psalm 103 Yahweh Our Father