Forget Not His Benefits
The healing posture that starts with remembering what God has already put on the table
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 forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.Psalm 103:1-5 (NKJV)
Observation
David is not singing because he feels like it. Look at the grammar. He is commanding his own soul. Bless the LORD, O my soul. He is talking to himself, and he is doing it on purpose, because he knows something we forget: the soul is forgetful. Not sinful in this moment, not rebellious, just forgetful. So he gives his soul a direct order and then he hands it a list. Forget not all His benefits. Then he names them, one by one, like a man counting out bills on a table. Forgiveness of all iniquity. Healing of all diseases. Redemption from the pit. A crown of lovingkindness. A mouth satisfied with good things. Youth renewed like the eagle's. Notice what kind of list this is. These are not wishes. These are benefits, covenant provisions that already belong to the covenant man. David does not say the LORD might forgive or may perhaps heal. He speaks in the present continuous, the way you would describe what a fountain does: it flows. Forgiving, healing, redeeming, crowning, satisfying. That is who God is being all the time. And notice where healing sits in the list. Right next to forgiveness. Same sentence, same breath, same covenant. Most believers will fight anyone who says God only forgives some sins, yet they hesitate at the very next clause. David did not hesitate. He put forgiveness and healing on the same line because they came out of the same mercy. The psalm was written by a man who had known guilt, sickness, danger and despair, and he had learned that the fastest way out of all four was not to inventory his problems but to inventory his God.
Application
Here is where this touches Tuesday. When your body hurts or the diagnosis sits heavy on the kitchen counter, your soul will do what souls do. It will forget. It will rehearse the symptom, replay the doctor's tone, memorize the statistics. Nobody has to teach the soul to do this. It forgets benefits and remembers fears automatically, which is exactly why David's method matters. Healing begins with a deliberate act of memory. So do what David did, and do it out loud, because your soul listens to your voice. Command it. Say, Soul, bless the LORD. Then hand it the list. He forgives ALL my iniquities, so shame has no claim on me. He heals ALL my diseases, so this body is under covenant care. He redeems my life from destruction, so this thing does not get the last word. Speak the benefits before you speak of the problem, and speak them more often than you speak of the problem. This is not denial. David never pretends the pit does not exist; he simply refuses to let the pit set the agenda for his mouth. Try it as a discipline this week: every time you catch yourself rehearsing the ailment, answer it with a benefit, one for one. You will discover what David discovered, that remembrance is a healing posture. The eagle does not strain to be renewed. It rises on what the wind already provides. Your youth is renewed the same way, riding on benefits that were already purchased, already listed, already yours. Forget not.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I bless You today with everything that is within me, and I command my soul to remember. Forgive me for memorizing my problems while forgetting Your benefits. Right now I take Your list as my list: You forgive all my iniquities, You heal all my diseases, You redeem my life from destruction, You crown me with lovingkindness and tender mercies, You satisfy my mouth with good things. Renew my youth like the eagle's. Let remembrance rise up in me louder than any symptom, any report, any fear. I receive covenant healing the same way I received forgiveness, by faith in Your unchanging character, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen!