Too Good To Be True?

Psalm 103:1-7

A psalm of David.

1Praise the LORD, I tell myself;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2Praise the LORD, I tell myself,

and never forget the good things he does for me.

3He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4He ransoms me from death

and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.

5He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

6The LORD gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

Psalm 103 sounds too good to be true. Surely God can forgive all my sins, but does he really “heal all my diseases”? I still catch an occasional sniffle, and I know devout believers who have died from their diseases. Where was the healing then? Yes, God fills my life with “good things,” but why doesn’t he take away the bad things?

Those are good questions, but we need to take a step back to get a better view. God does heal all our diseases, but not now necessarily. We are headed for a Kingdom, where there will be no more tears, no more sickness, and no more death. There will be final, complete healing for all. When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” that’s what we’re looking forward to. When we ask God to heal a dying loved one, we’re asking him to bring a piece of his future Kingdom into the present. Sometimes he does, and sometimes he asks us to wait.

Waiting for the Lord is a common theme in the Psalms (40:1) and other Scriptures. Those who wait patiently for God to act eventually find answers to their cries but not always the answers they expect. They also find themselves strengthened by the Lord. Isaiah promised, “Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

O praise ye the Lord! Thanksgiving and song

To Him be outpoured all ages along;

For love in creation, for heaven restored,

For grace of salvation, O praise ye the Lord!

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Bible Networking

Compare Deuteronomy 6:12 and 8:11, 14 with Psalm 103:2.

Notable Quotable

“Memory is very treacherous, by a strange perversity—it treasures up the refuse of the past and permits priceless treasures to lie neglected.”

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON