Blessed Benefits
Psalm 103:1-5
A Thanksgiving Sermon
In The One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard recommends that leaders develop the practice of the “one-minute
praising” in which they “catch their employees doing something right.” We’re all used to bosses who catch us
doing something wrong. It is so rare to be praised when we have done something well.
Blanchard’s idea is to “catch them doing something right” and then give them a one-minute praising right on the
spot. Don’t wait, he says, because waiting takes away the impact. Tell them right then and there, how much you
appreciate the good job they are doing.
This actually is more difficult that it appears. Most of us are better at criticism than at praise. We’re much better
at “one-minute blaming” than “one-minute praising.”
But it needs to be intentional. That’s Blanchard’s point. And it applies very much to our relationship with God.
This week I read Numbers 10-13, the sad story of the children of Israel complaining against the Lord in the
wilderness. After all He had done for them, they were griping and complaining and moaning and groaning. God
sent manna and they didn’t like it. They missed the good food they had back in Egypt. In Egypt they were
slaves, but they were willing to trade their freedom for a better menu. So God sent quail until they choked on it.
They were mighty unhappy people.
I’m an ordained United Methodist minister and served in the church capacity for 33 years. However, I’m now
an LPC and do therapy with individuals of all ages, couples and families all day long. And I LOVE it. Many of
the people in my client list are chronically unhappy. Some require medication to correct a chemical imbalance
that causes their unhappiness. However, some don’t need medication at all. Many are depressed because of a
rough season in their life and they need help coping with their situation. Help them work through the tough stuff
and their fine. However, they are also those who are unhappy because they are much like those Jews in the
wilderness. In their opinion, they don’t have enough stuff; they are married to the wrong person; their needs
aren’t being met satisfactorily. They have a “me, me, me” attitude. When I catch them doing something right
and having a positive attitude or outcome, I use a phrase I stole from Margaret, my boss and the owner of our
practice. I tell them, “I’m doing back-flips.” I said that to a little 10 year-old the other day and she said, “Miss
Meg, you’re just sitting there.” I told her my back flips were so fast you can’t see them. I leave Gabby Douglas
in dust. More often than not I end up having to give my clients a good talking-to. I help them do an attitude
check and help them train their minds to look at things more positively. We therapists call it CBT – Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy. But it’s nothing more than an attitude check. We reframe things and help them learn to
think more positively.
Sometimes we need to give ourselves a good talking-to. That’s what Psalm 103 is all about. It’s a prayer of
David’s in which he talks to his own soul and reminds himself to “bless the Lord” and “forget not all God’s
benefits.”
We must think before we can thank. We must ponder before we can praise. We must remember before we can
rejoice. According to David there are five blessed benefits of the Lord that we must not forget. So let’s look at
David’s list of God’s benefits.
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 God’s benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life
from the pit, who crowns you with tender love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:1-5).
Prayer
First Benefit
1.
God forgives all our sins, past, present and future.
This is the foundation for everything else. Our greatest problem is the guilt we feel because of our sin, and our
greatest need is to know forgiveness from the Lord. Note that David says that God forgives “all” our sin. That’s
good news, isn’t it? Some of us have really blown it big time, and we have messed up over and over and over
again. I’m glad the word “all” is included because it means that God intends to forgive my future sins.
Think about that.
Most of us secretly imagine that when we come to Christ, all our past sins are forgiven, but then it’s a footrace
race with the devil until the end of life. But when Christ died, all our sins were in the future. And when we come
to Christ, all our sins are forgiven, even the yet-to-be-committed sins, ones that would shock us if we knew
about them right now. He forgives all our sins—past, present and future. That was a huge insight for me because
it touches how we see God. He’s more willing to forgive than we are to be forgiven.
He is eager to forgive. He is ready to forgive us. He wants to forgive you.
Second Benefit
2.
God heals our diseases.
This benefit is close to my heart because though I am not a medical doctor, as a therapist I do work with people
to affect their emotional, psychological and spiritual healing. So I have a keen interest in the “healing arts.”
After doctors and nurses have done all they can do, and after we have used all the latest technology and taken
the newest drugs, healing must come from the Lord. That’s why we pray for the sick. They may be healed by
medicine or by surgery or by some other course of treatment like chemotherapy, or by sitting in a therapist’s
office for a season, or they may find healing through prayer or by a miracle from the Lord. All of those things
are possible, and they are not mutually exclusive.
People have asked me, “Do you believe in divine healing? And my response is always the same. “That’s the
only kind there is! It just comes in many different varieties.”
Third Benefit
3.
God redeems our lives from the pit.
I grew up with a skewed definition of “redemption” thanks to Blue Chip and S & H Green stamps. I asked my
30 year-old daughter if she remembered S&H Green stamps. She assumed that’s what we had before the
“Forever” stamps. I told her they weren’t postage stamps. When I told about licking them and filling little
booklets with them she said, “Lick? They weren’t self-adhesive?” I felt like an antique! I know I’m dating
myself, but I remember the taste of the glue on those little stamps. We’d paste them into those booklets and cart
them off to the “redemption center” to trade them in for a bunch of junk we didn’t need. That definition of
redemption is way too benign. To redeem means to rescue from danger in the time of trouble. The “pit” refers to
death itself. That you are hearing these words is proof positive that you are not dead. God has preserved and
redeemed you to this very moment and has protected you every step of your journey. If God willed it to be so,
you would die today—and you might die today—but it cannot happen without God’s permission. Satan himself
cannot touch you without God’s permission.
Every day the Lord rescues us in a million ways that we don’t see. His angels encamp around us to deliver us
from trouble. When the time comes to die, we will die. We are immortal until our work on earth is done. Often
we are too flippant about God’s protection, as if we were in charge of everything.
People ask us, “What happened today?” And we reply,
“Nothing.”
But think of what didn’t happen. No one robbed you. No one shot you. You weren’t fired. Your arthritis didn’t
flare up—or if it did, you made it through the day. A truck didn’t hit you. You weren’t rear-ended. No one
scammed you on the Internet (though some people tried). As far as you know your identity wasn’t stolen. Your
wife still loves you. Your husband is still happy to see you. Your friends still love you (most of them, anyway).
You still have your money. You’re not broke. You still have your job, and on and on it goes. Think of all the bad
things that could have happened to you today that didn’t.
The fact that you think nothing happened today means God has been doing His job!
I call this the doctrine of “perpetual preservation.” It means that while we are on earth, with all its dangers and
troubles, God is constantly at work behind the scenes, working to protect us from trouble, to clear the way
ahead, and to give us strength for each new day. Now that doesn’t mean we won’t have trouble. It means we are
not alone in the trouble. God is with us.
Fourth Benefit
4.
God crowns us with tender love and mercy.
This is the loyal, unending, unchanging love of God toward us. He heaps up His blessings—and then He pours
them out on us.
Then He crowns us with “tender mercies.” Mercy implies failure and defeat. Tender mercy means He knows
what we are going through and He meets us where we are.
The crown reminds us of our position as the children of God. In our day only kings and queens wear crowns,
but it is the privilege of every Christian to be crowned with love and the tender mercy of God as one of His
beloved and blessed children. We are children of the King, Kids of the Kingdom.
Fifth Benefit
5.
God satisfies us with good so our youth is renewed like the eagle's.
There is nothing on earth that can satisfy us as deeply as God Himself. The “good” of verse 5 comes from
God—not from anything we see around us.
To be satisfied means to be so full that you need nothing else. It’s what happens at the end of Thanksgiving
dinner. You have had two helpings of everything, three helpings of the Cherokee corn pudding, and even though
there is more food on the table, you cannot eat another bite. If you are hungry, to be full like that is a wonderful
sensation. But that satisfaction eventually wears off and you have to eat again.
Here David speaks of satisfaction deeper than anything the world can offer. In many American households
Thanksgiving is a time for three things—food, family, and football. After the meal is over we sit in front of the
TV and watch football. Football provides a good reminder of the fleeting nature of earthly satisfaction. In the
early 1970s the Dallas Cowboys had a star running back named Duane Thomas who was known to be
somewhat unpredictable. One year the Cowboys made it to the Super Bowl. During the lead-up to the big game,
someone asked Duane Thomas what he thought about playing in the “ultimate game.” His reply might have
come right out of the book of Ecclesiastes. “If this is the Ultimate Game, why do they play it again next year?”
Why indeed?
So it is with everything the world offers. We are here today, gone tomorrow. God says to His fading, frail,
perishing children, “I will give you whatever you need so you can soar like the eagle.”
There is a way to renew yourself, your energy, your outlook and your attitude. It’s better than aerobics, cheaper
than health food, quicker than dieting, and altogether less strenuous than jogging. And what is this “miracle
cure?” Fill your life with God’s good gifts to you. If you will let him, the Lord will give you something the
world cannot match.
God says, “I want to satisfy you—not with gold but with good.” Not with that which glitters today and is gone
tomorrow but with that which is permanent, eternal, and ever increasing in value.
God intends to give us contentment, satisfaction, strength, and vigor.
And so we come to the end of this magnificent succession of benefits. They form a perfect summary of
Thanksgiving for anyone who wants to wake up his soul and praise the Lord, and become a person who lives a
live of Thanksliving – not just Thanksgiving.
God's benefits include:
1.
Pardon
2.
Healing
3.
Preservation
4.
5.
Coronation
Satisfaction
So what is the application of all this? It is this – As the years roll on life teaches you some important lessons.
You learn that not all your dreams will come true. That’s a good thing. The wise among us have learned to thank
God for prayers that God never answered as we had hoped and dreams that never came true. It is good to dream
big dreams and to imagine all that you might do someday. But continually living in the future tends to make you
unhappy where you are today.
If you don’t know where to begin in applying this sermon, let’s circle back to the beginning and take the advice
of Ken Blanchard. Let’s do some “one-minute praising” this week.
Catch your spouse doing something right. Catch your children doing something right. Catch your friends doing
something right. Catch your pastors doing something right.
When you do, give them a “one-minute praising.” Tell them you’re doing back flips.
That alone will do your soul good. Just focusing on the positive will lift your spirits. Then give God a “oneminute praising.” I know that sounds trite. But start there. Try praising the Lord for one minute without
stopping. Praise Him for all the benefits you receive. Praise him for forgiving you. Praise Him for your health,
your healing, and your very life. Praise Him for your relationship with Him. Praise Him for meeting all your
needs and then some. Praise Him for those blessing that go way beyond your needs. Do it every day for a week
and see how it strengthens your heart and brings you closer to God. I predict you soon will be praising Him a
good deal longer than one minute. And that would be a good thing.