Through the Characteristics of God study, we identified about 70 characteristics of God. These characteristics are shown throughout the Bible, but one of the best places to learn about the characteristics of God is in the Psalms. Therefore, for the month of January, we are going to practice identifying the characteristics of God in the Psalms. Then, we’ll continue to add more Psalms to the list when we are between multi-week studies. This not only keeps us continually centered on God, it gives me a bit of a break from writing as well.
At the start of each lesson, I’ll include the Characteristics of God table that you can print or look at as you read the psalm.
The psalm for this week is Psalm 103.
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.Praise the Lord, my soul.
What characteristics did you identify? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
This is one of my absolute favorite Psalms! These are characteristics I saw from your list:
Sovereign, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, righteous, just, slow to anger, compassionate, merciful, gracious, forgiving, love, good, generous, guidance, healer, restores/renews us, Savior, satisfies, Redeemer, worthy of praise, performs wonders
You really need to learn Hebrew.