Greetings from President Beinke

As we are at the end of the Church Year, and also our national feast of Thanksgiving, it is certainly appropriate to think on all of the blessings our gracious Lord has poured out upon us during this past year in the Church. One of my favorite Psalms in this regard is Ps. 103: 

1 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 not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward

those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

17 But the steadfast love 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 remember to do his commandments.

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of

his word!

21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!

22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

 So many benefits, or blessings, are listed in Ps. 103! But, notice: the first one listed is, “who forgives all your iniquity.” How important it is that we begin there, with thanking Him for His forgiveness in Christ! Every other blessing rests upon this one. As Luther says in the Small Catechism, “For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” (The Sacrament of the Altar, What is the benefit of such eating and drinking?)

And, just consider how the Psalm speaks of God’s forgiveness. First of all, the Hebrew verb “forgive” used in vs. 3 is only used of God and never of man. God’s forgiveness is unique; and the Psalm proclaims how it is so. “He forgives all your iniquity…” Unlike us, God does not hold onto or keep in His mind any of our sins. No, “as far as the east is from the west,” – and they do not meet! – “so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” He has taken our sins from us and placed them on Christ, and He put their guilt and judgment to death upon the cross. We see, then, in Jesus above all that “the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” And, what can oppress us more than our sins, which weigh us down with guilt and regret and threaten us with hell? Since Christ has borne them and their punishment for us, and we have been made one with Him in Holy Baptism, we now stand before God as children before their father. And there is no better Father than the eternal Father who in love redeemed us and made us His own in His Son! “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”

The final blessing of God’s forgiveness will be seen at the end of our lives; and this, too, God has in mind. “He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” God does not love that which does not exist. His everlasting love, then, brings us forth into the resurrection into eternal life with Christ: this also is proclaimed in this Psalm!

And so, with God’s angel hosts, his ministers who do his will, and with all the company of heaven, we “bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!”