The Psalms are full of beautiful songs and prayers that will fill our heart with worship and praise for our gracious heavenly Father. Psalm 103 is a song of praise to God that reminds us of two truths: the dreadful reality of my sin, and the extravagance of God’s love.

This Psalm does not shy away from calling out our sin for what it is. Our iniquity (vs. 3) is perverse and corrupt. And the effect of sin in our lives is dreadful—just look around at the wicked things that have been done and continue to be done. Sin is also willful. The word David uses in verse 12 (‘transgressions’) highlights the fact that when we lived in sin we were in active rebellion against God. Sin is not merely a “slip up” or a “mistake,” like missing a turn when we’re driving. It is much more sinister than that. Our sin is also terminal: sin leads us to “the pit” (vs. 4). The saying is true that “Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” As Paul said in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death…”  When we read and reflect on this Psalm, we cannot escape the fact that it reminds us how serious the sin problem is.

I’ve painted a pretty dark picture from this Psalm about the reality of our sin, but the Psalm reminds us of something else too—the extravagance of God’s love. The Psalm describes his extravagant love in at least three different ways. First, he is forgiving. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (vs. 10). He removes our sins from us as far as the East is from the West! Second, he is gracious. “The Lord is merciful and gracious…” (vs. 8). God is not stingy with his grace. He has given us extravagant grace, grace that is greater than all our sins, as the hymn reminds us. Third, he is compassionate. He is gentle and tender with us, taking into account our weakness and human frailty. “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (vs. 14). When we read these descriptions of God’s forgiving, gracious, and compassionate love for us, we should be filled with love and worship for him.

When we have come to know and experience God’s extravagant love, we will also want to imitate him and be forgiving, gracious, and compassionate toward others. It is hard to be all those things, which is why we need constant reminders that God has been so good to us. This week, praise God for his extravagant love and ask him to help you show that same kind of love to someone in your life who could use a little forgiveness, grace, and compassion.