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TL;DR: Psalm 103 joyfully celebrates God’s forgiveness, compassion, justice, and steadfast love. It calls believers—and all creation—to praise Him. The psalm also recalls Phineas F. Bresee’s phrase “getting the glory down”: consciously experiencing God’s gracious presence in worship. This reflection urges believers to reclaim that spirit amid distractions, excessive emotional caution, and an overemphasis on programming.
What is the message of Psalm 103 for us today?
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission.
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 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.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children,
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
To Phineas F. Bresee, one primary objective of a church service was "getting the glory down." In saying that, he did not mean working up a frenzied emotional atmosphere with an impressive volume of "amens." Instead, Dr. Bresee, one of the principal founders of the Church of the Nazarene, meant that every service should be marked by a conscious awareness of God's gracious presence. [ more on P. F. Bresee ]
Psalm 103 is the song of someone who experienced "the glory coming down." It's the song of a believer with a full heart—someone who has experienced the incomprehensible dimensions of God's love.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name (Psalm 103:1).
Those words can spring only from a heart that senses God's presence among His people. One of the noblest hymns in the Old Testament, Psalm 103 does not sound one jarring note. It is a hymn of pure praise.
I enjoy meetings and large Nazarene gatherings where "getting the glory down" is a wonderful celebration of God's presence. This spirit of Psalm 103 has characterized the Nazarene movement through the years. I hope we never lose it.
Naturally, we do face certain tensions that tempt us to quench the Spirit. Occasional displays of shallow emotionalism have sometimes made us overly cautious. The Devil tries to induce us to tone things down in the name of propriety, decency, and good taste. Attention to programming and organizational details has sometimes consumed time and energy that could have been devoted to enjoying and praising the Lord.
When Satan succeeds in distracting us this way, we lose sight of God's blessings. It means we have not remembered "all His benefits," as the psalmist reminds us to.
When I originally wrote this column, a 14-member Nazarene Mission Team from Northeast Oklahoma was with us, helping finish the Moncalieri church building in northern Italy.
As part of the Sunday morning worship service in the new building, Rev. Robert Leffel and I read Psalm 103 alternately in English and Italian. What a great moment it was as believers born in nations thousands of miles apart affirmed together that "the Lord's love is with those who fear Him" from everlasting to everlasting (v. 17). [ Missionary stories from Italy ]
This reminder of God's steadfast love and forgiving power brought tears to the eyes of Italians and Americans as they heard the psalm in their respective languages.
Our challenge is to keep the spirit of Psalm 103. We must not allow fear to make us hesitant in our praise of the Lord.
Let's continue "getting the glory down" this year. "Praise the Lord, my soul."
Imagine the transformation if all the members of your local church recaptured the spirit of Psalm 103 in their lives—and if every congregation in our denomination did the same. Our dropout rate would plunge, and our efforts would become more fruitful.
Such a transformation would, of course, have to start with you and with me. "Bless the Lord . . ."
—Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
I wrote this devotional blog post while Barbara and I were serving as missionaries in Italy. It is one of 52 brief devotionals written for The Standard, a weekly Faith Connections take-home resource for adult Sunday school classes published by The Foundry.
Phineas F. Bresee, a prominent figure in the history of the Church of the Nazarene, often spoke about "getting the glory down." He meant experiencing God's presence and power in a situation or gathering. God's glory reveals His majesty, perfection, love, grace, and power. For Bresee, seeking a tangible awareness of God's presence in worship, prayer, and ministry expressed a longing for spiritual revival and renewal.
The "glory of God" involves His magnificence, splendor, and awe-inspiring transcendence. It is ultimately beyond complete human comprehension or description.