Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul! Psalm 103:22
If you ever given a thought to the word, “bless” you will understand how weird the word is. We use it when somebody sneezes. We use it when we feel lucky. We use it to welcome the presence of company. We use it to convey good of any kind. We use it to set apart things that are above mundane. We use it in our songs on Sundays. Moreover, we sometimes use it as a substitute for our curse words! The word “bless” is so weird. With all those flavors within the word itself, we find ourselves sometimes not thinking about the word we use so freely.
Today, I want us to concentrate on the statement the Psalmist makes in this passage. He is saying that the Lord’s works, that’s anybody who has been created, need to lift God apart as holy. The Psalmist says that this is especially true for all who have been created and are dwelling where God has dominion. This makes us recognize a few things.
First, we are God’s work. Implied in his pep talk to himself, the Psalmist’s soul must reconcile that fact that he is not his own, but a creation of God. Secondly, there is no place out of God’s dominion. That is implicit in the very idea of who God is and the reason we have to separate Him from the mundane, which is the reason for blessing. Every single moment should be a moment where we internally and therefore externally separate God from the rift raft of our lives.
The Psalmist is calling people to recognize God apart from everything else. It is so difficult to do so. In fact, it’s so much easier to let God meld into every other thing that’s going on with us. We need to stop and think about the word, “bless” and really “bless” God, O my soul.
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