but one of them is prais-
fits that filled his memory. Remember a funny incident
or a happy family moment? There is a good chance you
find yourself smiling because that joy, though distant,
becomes real all over again. That is the remembering
we are called to do when thinking of God's blessing.
ness, "who forgives all your sins and heals all your
diseases, who redeems your life from the pit" (vs. 3,4a).
One of the great promises of the Bible is that God
wipes away the record of our past sin. We remember
what we did. Others remember what we did. But when
a person accepts Christ as Savior, God forgets about
the sin that has marked our
lives. (See also verses 12�13).
There is no balance forward,
no record of our wrongdoing.
There is no sin so bad that
God's grace cannot wipe it
clean away.
The lame deer will be prey for the predator. If you
were to run into traffic you would find quickly that
flesh does not stand up well to speeding metal. Nor
will nature allow you to put something back together
like new. Neither broken bones or broken eggs can be
patched without evidence of fracture. But when God
heals the diseased heart, it is more than healed. It
becomes better than ever. We are not simply restored,
but elevated. God continues to work so that we are
"conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29).
and convert them to prisons. Once a prisoner was
lowered into a well with no windows or doors, there
he would sit in abject misery. Scriptural references
to the pit always meant a place like that--a hopeless
where no light of day penetrated, and only stale and
stinking air to breathe. But this Psalm tells us that
God redeems us from a hopeless situation, redeeming,
rescuing us from the pit. Even though we sometimes
find ourselves in places of hopelessness, the darkness
does not mean that God is not near. The slippery sides
prove no obstacle to Him. He lifts His child to a place of
freedom. It will come. Trust Him who loves you beyond
description. Remember the Savior who was laid in a
hopeless tomb but raised to glorious life again. He has
the same purpose in mind for you.
further work. He "crowns you with love and compas-
sion, who satisfies your desires with good things so
that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (vs. 4b�6).
The previous verses assure us of God's forgiveness. Af-
ter forgiveness comes the crown. Although Christians
tend to downplay the rewards of Heaven, the Bible is
not shy in its claim that those who serve the Lord with
their whole hearts will be recognized and rewarded.
But the crown will not be so much a trophy trumpeting
our accomplishments as it will be the confirmation that
we are the children of grace. Our crown is His crown,
bestowed on us because we have submitted ourselves
wholly to Him.
the lore of biblical days. The
ancient people believed that
when an eagle underwent its
annual molting, it was in a
sense born again. Likewise,
into the soul of God's child. That is why a teen believer
and a great�grandparent can display the same victori-
ous spirit. The renewal of the Spirit keeps us fresh.
wilderness, a lonely desert. An owl, a bird that shies
away from the light of day, sits exposed in a desert. A
sparrow estranged from the flock sends up a sorrowful
cry. But then Psalm 103 brings us the eagle, noble and
victorious, soaring as the wind fill its wings.
sing a song of praise to the Almighty, the gracious, the
loving God who has stooped to kiss his soul with life.
National Literary Secretary.