I must admit that when I hear the word “bless” or any phrase including that word I immediately think of something an elderly grandmother might say when their child sneezes. I know that’s not a great image, but it is what it is. It is with my poor imagination in mind that I have often found Psalm 103 a difficult one to understand. How is it that we are to bless the Lord? It’s not as if he sneezes a lot.
The other thing that comes to mind with relation to this word is positions of power. I picture the one being blessed kneeling in a submissive position and the who is blessing standing in a position of power. But if that is the case, that doesn’t make much sense either as I am certainly not in a position of power over the Lord, the one I am to bless.
This is one of those times when being a nerd comes in handy. We find the Hebrew word used for “bless” to be the word “barak,” which, given the form used in this chapter, means “to break down,” or “to bend the knees.” Quite literally then, the first verse in Psalm 103 says “Bend the knee to the Lord, O my soul, and all that is with in me, bend the knee to his holy name.” This seems to make a bit more sense. I am to “bless” the Lord, meaning, I am to “bow down to him.”
But I don’t know the last time I saw anyone on bended knee. I mean, other than scenes in certain movies bowing before someone just doesn’t seem to be in vogue anymore, you know? The most memorable scene of bending the knee occurs in The Return of the King. The hobbits were about to bow down to Aragorn, now King of Gondor, when he said to them, “My friends! You bow to no one,” after which he and the rest of Gondor kneeled down before Merry, Frodo, Sam, and Pippen. But other than that scene, I don’t know of any time I’ve seen people actually bend the knee.
I wonder why that is? I wonder why we don’t do it in church anymore? I mean, I know there was a time when we did, otherwise, there wouldn’t be kneelers in many older churches. I know the Catholic churches still have them, but since most of us are Protestants, we don’t think its a good idea, right? (That was a joke…lighten up!) We Protestants are liberated. We stand and jump and shout, singing praises to God in an upright position. Now, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but when was the last time you kneeled before God? When was the last time you took the subservient role with bent knee and bowed head while thanking God for the things he has done for you; things you could not do on your own?
Note, if you will, what the psalmist praises God for in Psalm 103: forgiveness of sins, healing of diseases, redemption from the pit, giving of his steadfast love, and satisfying him with good all the days of his life. I know we have been told we should jump and shout about how wonderful these things are, but I wonder if bending the knee might be a better thing to do next time you want to praise God for his works? I wonder if maybe we were designed to bend our knees to God rather than to stand erect in all of our glory while we bless God as though he were the recipient of something great we had to offer him? I wonder.
Psalm 103 is permeated with the theme of humanity’s temporal nature. We are like flowers which grow for a time before being blown away by the wind. We have nothing to offer God that he needs or wants other than our thanks for the time he has given us. But God, on the other hand, offers his steadfast love and gives us things which not only make this life bearable but resurrects the flower after it has been blown away by the wind. He pours his steadfast love on his children forever giving them a reason to hope in eternal life.
Were it not for God’s love, we would be like the dead flowers outside of my window right now. They, (Hostas, to be exact) had their season and were beautiful, but their season is over and now they are dead. Currently, their decaying fronds put nutrients into the ground, never to live again. But God…(we must always pay attention to God’s “But”)…but God in his mercy and by his steadfast love establishes a throne forever before which we will all eternally bless the Lord.
Yes, it is an eternity where we will bend our knees and offer praise to the Lord for all he has done. I suppose that could sound boring, but there is, of course, another option if you don’t want to bend your knee to him, and that is death. I’m sure this sounds horrible to someone, but if you read Psalm 103 again you will see that it doesn’t sound like drudgery at all. In fact, it sounds like a joyous shout of thanksgiving to the one who has done so much, in fact, all, for every one of us. The only right response to such a thing is to bend our knee to our creator, the one who offers us salvation and the one whose great love gives us life eternal.
Bend the knee to the Lord, O my soul
and forget not his benefits.
