Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t measure up to God’s expectations of you? Maybe your desires are pulling you in self-destructive directions, or maybe you just can’t make any of your relationships work out. Maybe you feel like so many parts of your life are just broken, and you can’t imagine how you’ll ever be able to put the pieces back together.

Well, the good news is that God knows your limitations even more clearly than you do. As David says, God knows that human beings are no more durable than dust, no more lasting than the grass withering in the heat of a Mississippi summer (verses 14-16). But God doesn’t despise us because of our weakness – instead, He has compassion on us in the same way that fathers care for their children (verse 13).

In fact, David assures us that God’s, faithful, unconditional, covenant-keeping love for broken sinners like us is as great as the heavens are high above the earth (verse 11). And God expresses that love by forgiving us of even the worst things that we’ve ever done, removing the guilt of those sins as far away as the east is from the west (verse 12).

Now, David knew all this from personal experience. After all, he had murdered one of his closest friends just so that he could sleep with that friend’s wife: you can’t get any more guilty than that. And yet David could rejoice in God’s forgiveness. Indeed, he was confident that God would not only pardon him, but bring healing and redemption to the lowest, the most broken places in his life (verses 3-4).

And we have even greater reason for such confidence. For we know that through the blood of His cross, the Son of David took upon Himself all the guilt of all the sins that all His people have ever committed. And we know that by rising from the grave, He has promised not only to forgive us but to give us newness of life, restoring us to a right relationship with God.

So, no matter how guilty you may feel, and no matter how broken you may be, today you can rejoice that a Savior has come to redeem you and to make you whole. What better reason could you have to trust Him, and to bless His holy name?

Psalm 103 (NASB)

A Psalm of David . Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The LORD performs righteous deeds, And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us; Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more; And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant, And who remember His precepts to do them.
19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all.
20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word!
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will.
22 Bless the LORD, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the LORD, O my soul!