The Bible

 

Psalms 103

Study

   

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, Bless his holy name.

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

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

13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

22 Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: Bless the LORD, O my soul.

   

Commentary

 

Wise

  

Like love, wisdom can come from many levels. Ultimately, though, all wisdom is a reflection of the perfect, infinite, divine wisdom that is the Lord's. At its heart, wisdom is love's imperative desire to take form. That's a tricky statement, but think of it this way: If you love someone, you are simultaneously filled with the desire to express that love. The desire for expression is so powerful and automatic that it is really part of the love itself. And that desire to express love is wisdom. Wisdom thus gives love form, and gives it tools so it can reach out and affect the world. Wisdom gathers knowledge so that from love it can form ideas and understanding of what it is to be good and how to be good. And sometimes, when the Bible talks of being wise, that's the kind of wisdom that is meant – a wisdom that seeks knowledge from a love of what is good, so it can use that knowledge for good. At other times, though, "wise" represents perversions of this, with knowledge twisted to other ends. A somewhat neutral example is the "wise men" of Egypt. They were people who had an extensive knowledge of the correspondences between spiritual things and natural things, but took an external view of them, using them for worldly knowledge instead of spiritual knowledge. A negative example is in Revelation 13:14, which says "here is wisdom" and offers 666 as the mark of the beast. There "wisdom" represents insanity, with knowledge twisted completely to evil ends.