When Your Heart Needs to Worship

When I first became a Christian in the 1980s, there were only a handful of well-known Christian music artists compared to the countless secular bands filling the airwaves. As someone who loved music, I found it difficult to transition from secular to Christian music.

Today, the landscape is very different. Thousands of worship bands and Christian artists fill the music scene. Many are incredibly gifted and lead people into worship around the world.

But every once in a while, someone composes a worship song that seems especially anointed by God. It seems evident that the song originated from true devotion and is sung from somewhere deep within the soul. The song becomes more than excellent music – it becomes worship.

However, there are times when worship seems to flow naturally from the heart. Then there are seasons when it doesn't.

Our hearts can grow cold. Life can become difficult. We can become distracted, discouraged, or even doubtful. We know God is worthy of our praise, but we don't always feel like praising Him.

Psalm 103 gives us a song for those seasons.

Unlike many of David's psalms, Psalm 103 is not connected to one particular event. There is no battle to celebrate, no cave to escape from, and no specific sin to confess. Instead, this psalm reads like the worship of a man who has walked with God for many years.

Imagine David near the end of his life reflecting on the journey God had taken him through. He remembers how the Lord raised him from a humble shepherd boy to become the king of Israel.

He remembers victories over lions, giants, and armies. He remembers seasons of triumph as

well as seasons of painful failure. His sin with Bathsheba, the turmoil within his family, the consequences of poor decisions, and the enemies who repeatedly surrounded him all remind him that life has been filled with both joy and sorrow, faithfulness and failure.

Yet as David looks back, one truth stands above all the others: The steadfast love of the Lord

has never failed him. God has been good to David, and his recollection is important.

Psalm 103 begins and ends with the same declaration:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul.”

Like bookends, these opening and closing words frame everything David wants us to see.

Everything between them answers one central question: Why should we bless the Lord?

David's answer gives us the big idea of his song:

Because of who God is and all He has done, we should bless the Lord with our whole

lives. And when our hearts have grown cold, distant, or doubtful, David gives us three things to remember.

1. Remember What God Has Done.

David begins:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” (Vs.1)

David became known as the sweet psalmist of Israel. His songs led a nation in worship.

We might imagine that David practiced a higher form of worship that praised God for who He is alone, without any thought of temporal blessings. That sounds more spiritual, but it is not what we find in David's song.

He recounts God’s practical goodness to him, but goes a step further: He commands his own soul: “Forget none of His benefits.”

God is not only the sovereign King of heaven; He is also a gracious Father who delights in doing good to His children. David remembered that God had forgiven him, restored him, and rescued him.

Then David begins to rehearse those blessings.

He forgives all your iniquities.

He heals all your diseases.

He redeems your life from the pit.

He crowns you with steadfast love and compassion.

He satisfies your years with good things.

He renews your strength like the eagle.

David remembers the gift of God's grace because none of these blessings were earned. He

remembers the richness of God's goodness because His blessings touch every part of life.

And he remembers the faithfulness of God's care because God provided for him throughout

every season.

David sings because of what God has done, and he commands himself to remember God's

benefits.

This is a command we can adopt as well. Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is simply remember all that God has done.

In the 1980s, one Christian artist I loved was Russ Taff. His music gave me strength

when I struggled in my walk with God while living in Germany. His songs seemed to speak

directly to the pain in my heart – the desire to follow God faithfully even when I felt too weak to do it.

I later learned about Taff’s own struggles, including his battle with alcohol even as God used him in music ministry. His story became another reminder of God's steadfast mercy – that He does not give up on His children.

It is easy to attend a worship service and go through the motions. We have heard the songs

before. We can become distracted or uncomfortable. Yet none of us want worship to become mechanical.

We want to worship God from the soul.

I believe this was David's desire as well, and he gives us a spiritual habit to follow:

Before he tells his soul to worship, he tells it to remember, “Forget none of His benefits.”

True worship grows out of grateful remembrance. When your heart has grown cold, or you have forgotten His benefits, Psalm 103 is a song you

can sing.

2. Remember Who God Is.

David moves from remembering God's blessings to remembering God's character.

He writes in vs. 10: “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

David was well acquainted with Israel's history. It was a saga marked by battles and blessings, and David recognized something remarkable.

God had not dealt with him or with Israel according to what they deserved. Instead, He dealt

with them according to His perfect wisdom and unfailing mercy. If God had dealt with Israel justly, none would remain. Instead, He delighted in showing mercy.

Why did God respond this way?

David points us back to one of the greatest moments in Israel's history. Verse 7 says:

“He made known His ways to Moses.”

David recalls God's self-revelation from Exodus 34:

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

This is who God has revealed Himself to be. God is merciful because mercy is part of His character. But David doesn't stop there.

After singing about the nature of God, he sings about the nature of people:

“As for man, his days are like grass.”

What a contrast.

A few verses earlier, David described God as everlasting. Now he describes man as a flower

that blooms for a little while and then disappears. David's point is clear. Life is fragile. Life is brief.

We are far weaker than we often imagine. Yet our hope is not rooted in our strength.

Our hope is found in God's unchanging nature and His perfect character.

David sings: “But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those

who fear Him... to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them.”

Everything about us changes.

Everything about God remains the same.

Our lives are temporary.

His love is everlasting.

Maybe remembering God's nature of mercy and lovingkindness is one of the surest ways to stir our praise.

When I was first saved, I struggled to transition from secular music to Christian music. But

everything changed when I heard an artist named Keith Green.

Before coming to Christ, Keith searched for meaning in Eastern religions, philosophy, and

success in the music industry, but nothing satisfied the longing of his soul. Then he encountered Jesus Christ, and everything changed.

God's grace transformed his life, and the songs that flowed from his heart were no longer written merely to entertain people – but to magnify God.

If you listen carefully to his music, you hear the themes of Psalm 103.

Keith sang because he never got over God's blessings. He never forgot what Christ had done for him. He sang because he had come to know God's character – His holiness, His mercy, His faithfulness, and His love.

Songs associated with his ministry, such as There Is a Redeemer, Create in Me a Clean Heart,

and Rushing Wind, point believers beyond themselves to the God who forgives, restores,

reigns, and is worthy of all praise.

In 1982, at only twenty-eight years of age, Keith Green was killed in a plane crash. His earthly

life was short, but his music pointed millions of believers like me to God's nature of love.

As David sang: “As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.”

But God is different.

When God examines our lives, He considers their frailty and brevity and extends His eternal

mercy toward us.

Our hope doesn’t hinge on the quantity or quality of our days.

It is rooted in God's nature.

Remembering who God is should lead us not only to praise Him, but also to trust and obey Him.

3. Remember God's Eternal Kingdom

In verse 19, David writes,

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

When David was king of Israel, he organized an incredible praise team made up of Levites,

priests, gatekeepers, musicians, and treasurers.

First Chronicles 23:5 records David saying:

“Four thousand shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for

praise.”

Four thousand Levites were appointed to lead worship with the instruments David had made to praise God.

First Chronicles 25:7 tells us that 288 skilled singers rotated in ministry so that God's people

would be continually led in praise.

David did not treat music merely as entertainment. First Chronicles 25 repeatedly says these

musicians “prophesied” with musical instruments. Their music proclaimed and celebrated God's truth under the Spirit's direction.

Worship and the Word were closely connected.

King David did everything he could to live a life of praise to God and help others do the same.

But Psalm 103 calls for something even more remarkable.

David's song crescendos into a call for the whole universe to praise God:

“Bless the LORD, you His angels... Bless the LORD, all you His hosts... Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul!”(vs. 20-21)

He calls the angels to praise God. He calls the hosts of heaven to praise Him. He calls all the

works of God's hands to praise Him.

David began by stirring his own soul to worship.

Now he wants to stir the whole universe.

Imagine one day singing with the choirs of heaven. Singing with the angels. Praising God with every tribe and tongue.

In Revelation 7:9–12, John sees an innumerable multitude from every nation standing before

the throne.

They are singing the song of the redeemed:

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

That song is going on in heaven right now, and one day, you will join in.

Psalm 103 is a song for every season because it reminds us why we praise God: for His

benefits, for who He is, and for the place we have in the choir of the redeemed.

Before You Lead Others, Lead Your Own Soul

In 1993, Australian worship leader Darlene Zschech wrote what would become one of the most influential worship songs of the modern church.

She wrote it during a difficult season of life. Her husband Mark's business was struggling

financially, and life was uncertain. She went into a small room in her home with an old, out-of-tune piano she had owned since childhood, opened the Psalms, and simply began worshiping the Lord.

The song flowed out of that personal time with God, not from an attempt to write a hit worship song.

The story goes that she was so shy about the song that when she first played it for the Hillsong worship leaders, she asked them to turn around so they wouldn't look at her as she sang.

That song became the now-famous worship classic, “Shout to the Lord.”

In the years that followed that shy rendition – one woman commanding her own soul to

remember who God is and who He had been to her – believers from nations around the world would sing along with her.

Isn't that exactly what David is doing in Psalm 103?

He remembers God's blessings.

He remembers God's character.

He remembers God's eternal kingdom.

And then his worship expands until he calls angels, heavenly hosts, all creation, and ultimately the redeemed to join him in praising the Lord.

But notice where it all began.

It did not begin with the congregation.

It did not begin with the musicians.

It began with one man speaking to his own heart: “Bless the LORD, O my soul.”

That may be where true worship must begin for us as well.

There will be seasons when praise comes naturally. There will also be seasons when our hearts grow cold, our circumstances become difficult, or God's goodness seems distant.

In those moments, we can do what David did.

Remember what God has done.

Remember who God is.

Remember that His throne is established in heaven and His kingdom rules over all.

Then speak again to your own soul: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

Because of who God is and all He has done, we should bless the Lord with our whole lives.

Until next time, keep going and growing in the Lord!

Pastor Bob

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About Pastor Bob Moya, DMin.

Dr. Bob Moya has served as the lead pastor with his wife Candace at City Chapel in Arlington, Texas for over 25 years. He recently graduated with a doctorate degree in Spiritual Renewal and Leadership in the spring of 2024. When not serving at the church, you'll find Bob enjoying a good read at Barnes & Noble, sipping a nitro cold brew or black coffee from Starbucks, or spending time with his family.