Bless The Lord!

Psalm 103:1 “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

The 103rd Psalm is a well-known passage of scripture. We read it often, quote it, and even sing it. But all too often we skip ahead to verse 3, where David starts listing all the things that God does for us! But look again at the very first thing David wrote. This Psalm isn’t about God blessing us - it’s about our soul blessing Him!

If you remember, we are made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body.  When we were born again, the real us (our spirit) was totally recreated! Before salvation, our spirit was dead in sin - but now it is alive in Jesus Christ! 2 Corinthians 5:17 shows us this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Now that we’re born again, our spirit craves the things of God. We desperately desire God’s Word, we long to obey His commands, and there’s nothing we enjoy more than to spend time with Him and His people. This is true of every born-again believer!

So why do these desires sound foreign to so many of God’s people? It’s because they still think their soul is the real them! The soul is a person’s thoughts, desires, and emotions. Actually, let me clarify - it is a person’s natural thoughts, desires, and emotions. The Hebrew word for soul is “nephesh.” This word speaks of the natural mind. In fact, the soul is truly a part of nature - even animals themselves have souls, as limited as they may be. Animals think things through, make decisions based on their surroundings, and even possess emotions like fear and contentment. You see? What truly separates us from the rest of nature is our third part - our spirit!

When you’re born again, you are given a brand new spirit, but your soul remains the same!  All of a sudden, your godly spirit begins to desire everything that God has. This brings it into conflict with your soul, which is still thinking the same thoughts and desiring the same things. This is the fight every believer faces for the rest of their time on earth - spirit vs. soul, new vs. old, spiritual vs. carnal. When I’m teaching kids I call it, “The Battle Of The Two Mes.” It all boils down to one thing - are you going to obey God or do your own thing?

Some may say, “If being born again leads to this conflict, then why didn’t God just give us new souls too?” Trust me on this, you’re glad He didn’t! Everything you’ve ever learned. from “don’t touch a hot stove” to “now I know my ABCs”, is stored in your soul! If God replaced your soul, you would have to re-learn everything you know right now! Going even further than that, your soul holds all of your memories. Aren’t there things in your life (even before salvation) that you want to remember? Important memories - such as memories of loved ones, cherished times, and lessons learned the hard way - are also stored in your soul. God never intended to replace your soul - He intended you to renew it!

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

How do we win the battle of the soul? By renewing your mind with God’s Word. This is what the Bible refers to as the salvation of your soul. We see this in James 1:21, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” God’s plan was to help you tame your soul and bring it under the control of your recreated spirit!

So what does this have to do with Psalm 103? Listen again to what David said: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” We know that David was a worshipper. It seems as if worship just flowed out of Him! But in Psalm 103, David seems to be reminding himself to worship God. Why? He was stirring up worship from his soul!

Most believers think that real worship only happens when they get all emotional. They mix up worship from the spirit and worship from the soul. True worship always comes from the spirit. Our new nature loves to worship God - it flows out of our spirit naturally. Our spirit will worship God as a default - for Who He is! But worship out of the soul - from the mind, will and emotions - is kind of shallow. This kind of worship comes and goes based on the way we feel. So the key to true worship is remembering where it really comes from: your new nature.

Be that as it may, I do enjoy getting my soul involved in worship! We’ve already seen that David did too! I want to show you the right way to get your soul into your worship. The key isn’t going to church, sitting next to the right person, turning the lights down just right, and singing the right song. The key to having your soul agree with your spirit in worship is found in the very next verse...

Psalm 103:1,2 “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...”

This is why David began to list the blessings that God gave him; to stir up his soul! When you begin to remember all the things that God has done for you, and list them out loud, it stirs up your mind and your emotions. You begin to realize how much He deserves for what He’s done for you. Then you begin to stir up your desire - even your soulish desire - to worship your Heavenly Father.

Do you remember His benefits? If you’ll read the next few verses, David will list some of them. Meditate on what God has done for you - this will stir your soul into worship. When you’re worshipping God from your spirit, soul and body; then you can truly say, “Bless the LORD...all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

That's Still Not Yours!

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Simply put, to covet is to desire and crave for something that isn’t currently yours. What many people may not know is that coveting isn’t always a bad thing! The Hebrew word that is used in the tenth commandment is “chamad” - it is variously translated as covet, desire, take pleasure in, lust after, long for, and enjoy. For many misguided christians, this doesn’t seem like a good thing! But let’s be clear, God is very interested in what is desirable, pleasing, and fun for us. He isn’t some “prude” in Heaven, ruling against any kind of fun or pleasure.

Let me show you what I’m talking about:

Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The Hebrew word for “pleasant to the sight” is the same word - chamad. God made the trees (and by inference, the whole of creation) to be enjoyable for us and pleasing to look at! God’s intention in creation was to make things we would want!

Psalm 19:9-10 “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Here we see that we should be coveting - craving and longing for - the judgements of God, found inside the word. Has there ever been a time in your christian life when you could say that you coveted (lusted for and craved) the words on the pages of the Bible? This is the healthiest place any believer could be in!

When we move into the New Testament, the good type of coveting is still apparent. The Greek word for covet is “epithymeo” - its meaning is still the same: desire, longing, lust, craving.

Matthew 13:17 uses this word: “...for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
In this verse we see Jesus telling His disciples that many righteous men coveted the very days that they were living in - the days when Jesus walked the earth!

1 Peter 1:12 shows us that it wasn’t just the prophets of old that longed to know the New Testament realities we’re living in - apparently, even the angels have this craving! “To them [the prophets] it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.”

So we can see through these verses that there are times when it is right for us to covet some things! So when does coveting become a bad thing? When does desiring something become breaking the tenth commandment? The answer is simple. We can see the difference between godly and godless coveting in Galatians 5:17 -  “For the flesh lusts  (epithymeo) against the Spirit, and the Spirit [lusts ]against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Did you see that? There are two types of covetousness - spiritual and fleshly.

Fleshly covetousness is only concerned about desiring things that we have no right to possess. Coveting things that have been devoted to God (i.e. the tithe) is one of these sinful desires - just ask Achan (Joshua 7:21)! Proverbs 6:25-26 tells us all about the dangers of coveting the beauty of a prostitute.

But now let’s look at the things that the tenth commandment specifically warns us not to covet.

“Your neighbor’s house...” - We are not to be jealous about where someone else lives.

“...your neighbor’s wife...” - don’t desire to have someone else’s spouse! But even beyond that, don’t allow yourself to be jealous of someone else’s family (parents, siblings, kids, etc.).

“...nor his male servant, nor his female servant...” - don’t envy their position in life. Don’t be jealous of their job, their influence, or the people that look up to them.

“...nor his ox...” - Cattle and sheep were a means of livelihood in those day. Today we would say, “Don’t desire or crave your neighbor’s bank accounts or full wallets.” Don’t be jealous of their wealth!

“...nor his donkey...” - quite simply, a mode of transportation. Cars, boats, motorcycles - don’t be jealous of their ways of getting from point A to point B.

“...nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” - If there’s anything else that isn’t mentioned before, it’s listed right here. The point is simple, don’t desire something that belongs to someone else!

Your desires should be focused on the things that you have a right to possess. You have no biblical right to desire what belongs to someone else. In today’s society, especially in light of the various protests against the “rich”, it’s important to remember that this command still applies! You have no right in God’s eyes to even long for what someone else has - let alone demand a part of it! Let’s forget this “class warfare” mindset and move into total obedience to God’s Word. It’s time to bring our very desires in line with God’s plan for us!

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’”