Psalm 103:7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel
Psalm 103 is a psalm of thanksgiving. It begins by saying, “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” We are to bless and thank God. It is interesting because it is really God who blesses us, but we are to bless Him. This is not talking about conferring on God some benefit. It is acknowledging the benefits He confers upon us. We praise God.
Now, there is this thinking that we should praise God for who He is and not for what He does. Perhaps, strictly speaking, praise is to acknowledge who God is and thanksgiving is to acknowledge what God has done. The point is you can’t disconnect the two. God does what He does because He is who He is. God is worthy of praise whether He does me a good turn or not, but the fact is God has been good because God is good. God is good, therefore God does good. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
Verse 3 says, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” Then there is a long line of things that God has done. Notice it says “who,” “who forgiveth.” God does what He does because He is who He is.
One thing that really stands out for us in verse 7 is that a thankful person is one whose experience confirms God’s truth. Who God is, that is God’s truth; what God does, that is my experience. They go together. Verse 7 says it this way, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” So, did God make known His ways to Moses? Yes! How did God do this? Did Moses just have a feeling like something good was about to happen, or did he see, experience, or even read something? Moses had not read the psalms or the account of his life because he did not have them. We have benefits that Moses did not. How did Moses know God’s ways? God had inscribed His ways on stone and immortalized them forever in Scripture. I think specifically of the Ten Commandments. Moses didn’t have to guess God’s ways. God had given that to him in no uncertain terms. God’s way and truth were given through what God had said, God’s Word.
On the other hand, God made know his acts to the children of Israel. Did the children of Israel know God’s acts? Yes! How? Had they read about it? No. Here is an aged man coming out of slavery in Egypt and someone says to him, “Is God good and powerful and wise?” Such a man could reply, “Is God powerful? He parted the Red Sea. Is God good? He rained food from heaven. Is God wise? He gave us a path through the desert. I experienced this.” Here are hungry kids and an aged man struggling for strength. God did things they saw with their eyes. “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”
What is this gratitude we read of in Psalm 103? There is a sense in which a thankful person is simply one whose experience confirms God’s truth. Both are important. Truth is where we begin, but we can’t just be content to say, “Well, Moses experienced God’s power. Israel experienced God’s power. I’ve read about this.” No, we need to know this for ourselves.
If there is no God and no truth, then there is no thanks. Someone says, “I am grateful that I am lucky enough to thus and so.” Well, if you are lucky, then you are not grateful because there is no cause or reason for what happened. It was just sheer dumb chance, and how can you be thankful to anyone or anything for that. A thankful person is someone who can look back and say, “Wow, that was God,” because no God or no life experience means no thanks.
Can you look back on your life and say, “Wow, that was God.” Look at both the good and bad times of your life and say, “Wow, that was God.” Maybe you don’t really know because you don’t have the big picture God has. Let me suggest that you do two things. First, think on the truth. Second, open your eyes. Don’t just be content to know it is true, but open your eyes to truth being lived out in your life because there is a living 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.” He remembers we are dust. We certainly should remember Him because He certainly remembers us. A thankful person is one whose experience confirms God’s truth.