Psalm__103

Scripture - What stood out?Psalm 1038 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,    slow to anger, abounding in love.9 He will not always accuse,    nor will he harbor his anger forever;10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve    or repay us according to our iniquities.11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,    so great is his love for those who fear him;12 as far as the east is from the west,

    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Observation - What does it say?Another beautiful psalm of David. This psalm reveals the counterpart to God’s Wrath - His Compassion. I have read the old testament many times now and here is a verse that has always stuck to me, Deuteronomy 5:9 “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”But in psalm 103 we find the counter measure to that in verse 17 “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children-” Understanding - What does it mean?Author Lois Tverberg, in her book Reading The Bible With Rabbi Jesus writes: Our English word fear narrowly focuses on being afraid. To us, fear is the opposite of trust and is synonymous with worry, dread, or fright. But yirah encompasses a much wider range of meanings from negative (dread, terror) to positive (worship, reverence) and from mild (respect) to strong (awe). Whenever you read “revere” or “reverence” in your bible, the word yirah is most likely behind it. What a wonderful explanation for the word fear in psalm 103:11, and 17. My whole life I have interpreted the english bible’s interpretation of the fear of the Lord one and only one way, and that was the “tremble in dread and terror” definition. But here we read that the same root word for fear in hebrew was also used to mean reverence and awe. Doesn’t that open up a totally different perspective? The picture of God I have in these verses is no longer the angry, terrifying destroyer of men, who instills fear but instead it is that of a Holy and Just God who is capable of applying both justice and mercy who instills reverence and awe. And what does God do to those who revere him with awe - he loves them...with a love so great says David. He does not treat us as our sins, as our bad decisions, as our bad desires deserve. Instead he removes our transgressions. He removes our trespasses from His ledgers, from the column that reads “must pay in full for the wrongs you committed this time and that time and that time”. Life Application - How can I apply this to my life today?I would like to be somebody who reveres you with awe Father God. Teach me how to do that appropriately given my own limitations Father God. Show me what it is to have a healthy fear of You. Perhaps it is similar to the fear a man has of his 64 year old, 115 lb, immigrant mother that he outweighs by over 150 lbs. Perhaps not. Show me how to properly revere You, Lord, so that my children’s children would be faithful recipients of Your Love and Your Righteousness.What can I do to increase or to work on my healthy fear of the Lord today? Father I will try my best not to use Your name in vain today. That is one small way I can begin to improve on developing a reverence for You! Love You Lord. -kenneth lee