.png)
Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul is one of my favorite modern-day worship songs and it's based on one of my favorite Scripture passages - Psalm 103. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul.... (Psalms 103:1 ESV)"
Have you ever noticed that in this passage David is talking to himself - to his soul? Did you know that we should be commanding our souls to submit to God as David did? Our soul is comprised of our will, emotions and mind (intellect). It's not very reliable and can be easily distracted. Our spirit, if we have accepted Christ, is full of the Holy Spirit and should command and control our soul, not vice versa. We've all had those times in church when the worship is pretty good, but we're just not feeling it. Maybe it's been a rough week or our minds are still running a million miles a minute or maybe we're simply in a lethargic or bad mood. Well, friends, God doesn't tell us to praise Him only if we feel like it; He commands us to praise Him at ALL times because of who He is.
We are carnal creatures and Satan is fighting for our souls. As believers in Christ, our salvation is secure in Him; but, if Satan can distract our souls, we will walk a defeated life on this earth. As new creations in Christ, we are called to command our souls to be in line with our spirit - with the Holy Spirit. In Psalms 103, David commands his soul to bless the Lord, implying that he was not currently blessing the Lord in that given situation. There are times we won't feel like blessing and praising God - that's life and that's human. It's not bad to have those feelings, but what is bad is letting those feelings rule over you and determine how your spirit will act. David, a man whom God said had a heart for Him, repeatedly commanded his soul to worship the Almighty despite his circumstances (Psalms 42:5, Psalms 62:5-7, Psalms 146:1-2).
We are to worship God for who He is rather than what our circumstances may be because our circumstances are just as unreliable as our feelings. God is good all the time, and for that alone He deserves our praise. So, decide today to command your soul to worship Him whether or not you feel like it. Dwell richly on His goodness through the meditation of His Word.
“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable (Psalms 145:1-3, ESV).”