Forget Not All His Benefits
Forget Not All His Benefits: Remembering God's Goodness in Difficult Times
Life has a way of making us forget. When bills pile up, when the diagnosis comes back, when doors we prayed over get slammed shut, we often stop looking at what God has done and start staring at what's going wrong. We trade our testimony for trouble, and before long, we've forgotten just how good God has been to us.
Why Do We Forget God's Goodness?
Forgetting isn't always a choice - it can be a slow drift, a gradual erosion of spiritual memory. Until one day we look around and wonder why our praise has gone silent. This is precisely why the Holy Spirit moved King David to write the words found in Psalm 103:1-5.
David knew both the valley and the mountaintop, yet in this psalm he does something extraordinary: he commands his own soul to praise God. "'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: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.'" - Psalm 103:1-5
What Does It Mean to Command Your Soul?
David doesn't wait for his feelings to catch up. He doesn't pray that God will stir something in him. Instead, he issues a direct internal command: "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Sometimes you're going to have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you're going to have to tell yourself that everything is going to be all right, despite what the devil says, despite what it may look like.
The phrase "forget not all his benefits" isn't a polite suggestion - it's a divine command against spiritual amnesia. A soul that forgets God's goodness is a soul that drifts from God's presence.
What Are God's Benefits?
When we talk about benefits in the world, they're often based on your age, your tier, your qualifications. But thank God we're all in "Tier Jesus" - you didn't have to pay anything, you get everything, and you receive it all.
Benefit #1: He Forgives All Your Iniquities
The blood of Jesus Christ doesn't merely cover sin - it cancels it. God blocks out the record completely. It doesn't exist anymore. It's removed from the books. As Isaiah 43:25 declares, he casts our sins into the depths of the sea. The enemy wants you to carry what God has already canceled, but Romans 8:1 settles it: "'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.'"
Benefit #2: He Heals All Your Diseases
God is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. Isaiah 53:5 declares that "'by his stripes we are healed.'" But healing isn't just limited to the body - God heals emotional wounds, broken hearts, and traumatized minds. He reaches places where medicine can't get to. Your diagnosis is not your destiny. The final word doesn't belong to the doctor - it belongs to God.
Benefit #3: He Redeems Your Life from Destruction
To redeem means to buy back. God snatched us from the jaws of destruction, reaching into situations that had no natural exit. He pulled us out of pits we dug with our own hands - pits of drugs, lies, destruction, and sin. As Psalm 40:2 says, he brought us "'up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock.'" No matter how deep your pit was, God's arm is long enough to reach in there.
Benefit #4: He Crowns You with Loving Kindness and Renews Your Strength
God places his covenant love on you like a crown every morning. You are royalty in the kingdom of God - a royal priesthood. Isaiah 40:31 promises that "'those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.'" You're not too old or too broken. God's still in the renewing business, and your best days are yet to come.
How Do We Apply This to Our Lives?
Keep Gratitude for What God Has Already Done
In these last days, people have become lovers of themselves - never satisfied, always wanting more. But we must be grateful for what he's already done, what he's already doing, and what he did last week. It could be a worse situation. You could have nothing, sleeping under a bridge in zero-degree weather.
Speak These Blessings Out Loud
Your mouth activates your memory and your faith. Let your voice be a daily declaration of what God has provided, not a commentary on what's going wrong. We should be speaking more about what he's doing and what's going right. If you learn to do this, watch how God begins to change your environment.
Gather with the Saints
Corporate worship keeps individual memory alive. When we forget, someone else's testimony can remind us. As Hebrews 10:25 instructs, we must not forsake "'the assembling of ourselves together... and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.'" We need each other's testimonies, prayers, and encouragement.
Life Application
This week, make a decision to give God praise not because everything is perfect, but because he's God and he's been faithful. Think about just one benefit - one healing, one deliverance, one door he opened when every other one was shut. One moment when you know it was nothing but God.
Hold that moment in your mind and let it push back fear, silence doubt, and open your mouth in praise. The God who has been faithful will be faithful still.
Questions for Reflection:
Life has a way of making us forget. When bills pile up, when the diagnosis comes back, when doors we prayed over get slammed shut, we often stop looking at what God has done and start staring at what's going wrong. We trade our testimony for trouble, and before long, we've forgotten just how good God has been to us.
Why Do We Forget God's Goodness?
Forgetting isn't always a choice - it can be a slow drift, a gradual erosion of spiritual memory. Until one day we look around and wonder why our praise has gone silent. This is precisely why the Holy Spirit moved King David to write the words found in Psalm 103:1-5.
David knew both the valley and the mountaintop, yet in this psalm he does something extraordinary: he commands his own soul to praise God. "'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: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.'" - Psalm 103:1-5
What Does It Mean to Command Your Soul?
David doesn't wait for his feelings to catch up. He doesn't pray that God will stir something in him. Instead, he issues a direct internal command: "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Sometimes you're going to have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you're going to have to tell yourself that everything is going to be all right, despite what the devil says, despite what it may look like.
The phrase "forget not all his benefits" isn't a polite suggestion - it's a divine command against spiritual amnesia. A soul that forgets God's goodness is a soul that drifts from God's presence.
What Are God's Benefits?
When we talk about benefits in the world, they're often based on your age, your tier, your qualifications. But thank God we're all in "Tier Jesus" - you didn't have to pay anything, you get everything, and you receive it all.
Benefit #1: He Forgives All Your Iniquities
The blood of Jesus Christ doesn't merely cover sin - it cancels it. God blocks out the record completely. It doesn't exist anymore. It's removed from the books. As Isaiah 43:25 declares, he casts our sins into the depths of the sea. The enemy wants you to carry what God has already canceled, but Romans 8:1 settles it: "'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.'"
Benefit #2: He Heals All Your Diseases
God is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. Isaiah 53:5 declares that "'by his stripes we are healed.'" But healing isn't just limited to the body - God heals emotional wounds, broken hearts, and traumatized minds. He reaches places where medicine can't get to. Your diagnosis is not your destiny. The final word doesn't belong to the doctor - it belongs to God.
Benefit #3: He Redeems Your Life from Destruction
To redeem means to buy back. God snatched us from the jaws of destruction, reaching into situations that had no natural exit. He pulled us out of pits we dug with our own hands - pits of drugs, lies, destruction, and sin. As Psalm 40:2 says, he brought us "'up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock.'" No matter how deep your pit was, God's arm is long enough to reach in there.
Benefit #4: He Crowns You with Loving Kindness and Renews Your Strength
God places his covenant love on you like a crown every morning. You are royalty in the kingdom of God - a royal priesthood. Isaiah 40:31 promises that "'those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.'" You're not too old or too broken. God's still in the renewing business, and your best days are yet to come.
How Do We Apply This to Our Lives?
Keep Gratitude for What God Has Already Done
In these last days, people have become lovers of themselves - never satisfied, always wanting more. But we must be grateful for what he's already done, what he's already doing, and what he did last week. It could be a worse situation. You could have nothing, sleeping under a bridge in zero-degree weather.
Speak These Blessings Out Loud
Your mouth activates your memory and your faith. Let your voice be a daily declaration of what God has provided, not a commentary on what's going wrong. We should be speaking more about what he's doing and what's going right. If you learn to do this, watch how God begins to change your environment.
Gather with the Saints
Corporate worship keeps individual memory alive. When we forget, someone else's testimony can remind us. As Hebrews 10:25 instructs, we must not forsake "'the assembling of ourselves together... and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.'" We need each other's testimonies, prayers, and encouragement.
Life Application
This week, make a decision to give God praise not because everything is perfect, but because he's God and he's been faithful. Think about just one benefit - one healing, one deliverance, one door he opened when every other one was shut. One moment when you know it was nothing but God.
Hold that moment in your mind and let it push back fear, silence doubt, and open your mouth in praise. The God who has been faithful will be faithful still.
Questions for Reflection:
- What specific benefit of God can you recall that demonstrates his faithfulness in your life?
- How can you command your soul to praise God even when circumstances look difficult?
- In what ways can you speak more positively about God's goodness rather than focusing on what's going wrong?
- How can you better support others in remembering God's benefits through corporate worship and fellowship?
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