A well-known Christian speaker once commented on how many letters he receives in which Christians complain against God. They’re disappointed in God for failing to live up to the promises He never made in the first place! No doubt, the trials of life frequently leave us with a praise deficit. But isn’t it sadly true that even on our best days we are weighed down with an attitude of ingratitude, as if some gravitational force is keeping our hearts earthbound?

The Lord recognizes that we need to be stirred up time and again to thanksgiving. Psalm 103 does that. Seven times we’re urged to “bless the Lord.” Here is a psalm without a single complaint or petition. Unmingled thanks marks this song.

The body of the psalm, verses 3-19, is divided into four sections, each containing the word for God’s covenant love, hesed, often translated “lovingkindness” or “mercy.”

1. We’re stirred up to thanksgiving by way of catalog (vv. 3-5).

God forgives us–The most basic, most crucial need, comes first. We are legally and truly pardoned in Christ.

God heals us–He reverses the disease that is sin, cleansing and restoring us.

God redeems us–We had earned a one-way ticket to death and hell, but the Redeemer purchased us with His blood.

God crowns us–Like the prodigal son lifted up from the pigsty, Christ gives dignity; life is elevated.

God satisfies us–Finding our self-hewn cisterns disappointingly empty, Christ gives us His living water.

God renews us–As Edward Payson said on his deathbed, “It seems as if my soul has found a pair of new wings!”

How often do you take time to take stock of what God has done for you (and is doing) in Christ?

2. We’re stirred up to thanksgiving by way of recollection (vv. 6-10).

David takes us back to the Exodus and Moses. What was the most important thing that God “made known”(v. 7)? His character. David guides our minds to Exodus 34:6-7, that great self-declaration of God’s faithfulness: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious.”

His wrath is under limits. He is “slow to anger,” but He is “abounding in mercy” (v. 8). In light of our faithlessness, is there anything more important for our God to abound in? David can say, in essence: “Look back over our long history. Has the Lord once let us down?” Many generations have come and gone since David, but we can–and should–still have the same encouragement.

3. We’re stirred up to thanksgiving by way of comparison (vv. 11-14).

Three “as/so” pairs highlight this section. “Think of how high the heavens are above the earth,” David says. “Can you reach them?” Travel 1,000 miles into space and you’ve barely begun. “How far is the east from the west?” They’re polar opposites. “Think of how a loving father shows pity on his needy child.” He’d do anything for her.

These pictures only begin to tell the story of the great grace of the gospel. We in the church are tempted to convey an image of success and strength–isn’t that the way to impress, to attract, to grow? But how much better it would be for us if we never stopped seeing ourselves as God sees us–“For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (v. 14)–and made abundant mercy our boast.

4. We’re stirred up to thanksgiving by way of contrast (vv. 15-19).

David has lived long enough to know something of man’s frailty: “grass-like” and “flower-like” are the closest we come to stability. But contrast his praise of God: “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.” Here is comfort for the Christian bereaved, the believer fearful of the future, even for the anxious parent. The Puritan David Clarkson said: “This mercy follows us when we leave the world, beyond death and the grave, and can reach those that we leave behind us, too.”

Anyone can make a promise, but this one comes from the One who rules over all (v. 19). The children’s song has it right: “We are weak but He is strong.”

The person who realizes he has a Savior like Jesus Christ wants his whole soul, his whole self, engaged in praise (vv. 1-2). And he wants all of creation to join him, from the angelic to the most mundane of His works (vv. 20, 22).

Begin today to be a more thankful Christian. The answer to grumbling and discouragement is to look less at ourselves and our situation, and to rejoice in Christ. Begin with this psalm, and may He give you a voice to join in singing, “Bless the Lord!”