Let us open God's Word this morning to the 103rd Psalm. Psalm 103. And our text this morning is verses 13 and 14. However, we will begin our reading with verse 1. Psalm 103, beginning with verse 1. People of God, this is the Word of our God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Thus ends the reading of God's Holy Word. Let us pray. Our Father, we ask now for your illumination by your spirit. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Lift Christ high in our midst and cause us to gaze upon him. We pray this in his name, amen. You may be seated. We have found David talking to himself in Psalm 103 over the last several weeks, calling upon his soul to bless the Lord. This blessing the Lord was not to be a self-generated kind of shallow stirring up of the heart so as to have an emotional experience for one's own benefit. Rather, because David, like us, is created to bless the Lord, he calls his soul to respond to specific concerns or specific benefits of God, his Savior. Soul, bless the Lord by recalling all of his benefits, soul. All of his benefits to you as your covenant God. It's by recalling those benefits that the soul is raised to bless the Lord. David proceeds to recall some of those benefits to his soul with its attention upon his God and he, that properly stirs the soul to do just that, to worship. One overarching benefit that we have found in Psalm 103 is that of chesed, this important Hebrew word, chesed love. It is that oath-bound, committed, loyal love of God that abounds to all of His people. And as we've seen, we, along with David, ought to deliberately recount the abounding love of God toward us. There are some specific characteristics and attributes that arise as David meditates on God's chesed love. One of those, as we have seen, is his mercy, where he withholds giving us what we actually deserve. We've also seen highlighted as a part of his chesed love, the element of grace, where he positively bestows his favor freely upon those who do not deserve it. In verses 13 and 14, which we have before us this morning, David is highlighting yet another cut of the diamond, if you will, another glorious attribute of the love of God for us. We have seen and spoken of his love like a diamond that can be seen from different angles of the cut and different glories that can be seen from different angles, but it all, is still the one same diamond, the abounding love of God to us. Well, that attribute that we find in our text this morning is not his mercy and not his grace, but this morning it is his compassion. Our text uses the word pity, not once but twice in our text this morning. But what is pity after all? The word pity, one of its English equivalents of course would be the word compassion. They both get at this notion of looking upon someone with deep sympathy because of their suffering or because of their misery. We often use the word pitiful loosely in our language, but literally pitiful, it means that there is a state or a condition that is rousing within one a compassion for that person or a compassion for that thing. To have a pitiful condition. is to be in such a state that one's heart is roused to respond with compassion. If you were witnessing your neighbor falling from a ladder to the ground and he was injured, you might run out to him with compassion driving you, seeing his pitiful condition and responding to it. If you were to see the neighbor's ladder fall and it fall down on top of that neighbor's child, you might even run all the faster out of compassion for that dear precious child's welfare. Well, like David has done in a few verses before the ones before us this morning, he again chooses to provide us an illustration. He provides us a word picture to convey to us how we're to understand the compassion of God. But what's very interesting, is that David does not give us an illustration likened to the kind of compassion that you would show to your neighbor or to your neighbor's child. Rather, the illustration is a kind of compassion that one shows to one's own child. And that's a whole different matter. The scripture tells us, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. You see, the concept of compassion can be applied to any human being expressing that compassion to another human being, like the man who falls with his ladder. But the compassion one shows to their own child has an intensity that far surpasses that which you would even show to your own neighbor. A neighbor or a neighbor's child may fall and scrape the knee or break a leg that evokes compassion for that neighbor, but it doesn't evoke the kind of compassion that it does in your heart when it's your own child that scrapes the knee or breaks the leg and is crying out with tears. A neighbor or a neighbor's child may have an illness, perhaps a very severe illness with many consequences accompanying that illness that evokes compassion, true compassion for that neighbor. But it doesn't evoke the kind of compassion that one has when it's one's own child that has such illness and is desperate. This same phrase, pity, or show compassion, is found in a very familiar text to all of us, I would hope, that really captures the kind of compassion that David is talking about in this verse. It's found over in 1 Kings chapter 3 where we have this familiar scene of King Solomon. And King Solomon has these two women come before him. And both of these women claim to be the mother of this child. And it's left to Solomon to determine what to do in all of his wisdom. So Solomon calls one to bring him his sword. Because Solomon's intention is to take the sword. and lay down the baby and cut the baby in half and give half of the child to one mother and half of the child to the other because both of them claim to be the mother of the child. But listen, listen to what the scripture says about the woman who is the true mother of the child. She yearned with compassion for her son and said, my Lord Solomon, give the child to the other woman. By no means kill him. By no means do that child harm. Can you feel this woman's yearning, yearning with compassion? It's unlike a compassion that one has generally for one's neighbor. Here one's child's welfare is at stake and the scripture says she yearned. Do you feel her yearning with compassion for her child? This is the kind of compassion that David is talking about in the 103rd Psalm. This is the kind of compassion, dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, that God has for you. It isn't a generic compassion like one would show to one's neighbor. It is the kind of compassion that yearns for your welfare. Yearns from the heart of God with compassion. As one would yearn in compassion for one's own child. Well, there's another cut of hesed. There's another angle. to look upon the love of God that abounds to you. Oh, abundant compassion. His compassion for you can only be likened to the kind of compassion that a father has for his own. What does a father have for his own? He'll run to the aid of that child at any cost. He'll weep over his child's infirmities because he so longs for his child's good. He'll protect the child in any adverse circumstance. He'll provide for all of the needs of that child such that the child can say, I want for nothing. That's the kind of love and compassion that a father has for his own. What would you do, particularly if you were a father or a mother I ask you this morning, what would you do for the welfare of your child? Anything and everything for the welfare of your own child. And we do that imperfectly. Here we have God our Father who loves us perfectly and bestows upon us compassion, a yearning compassion that's What a perfect father. And that's what David is getting at here, giving us that perception, that angle of the love, chesed love of God for us. Abundant compassion. Well, who are these children that have this kind of benefit? Notice the parallel that David builds into these two verses. He says, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities His children? He doesn't say that. That's interesting. You would expect him to say, as a father pities his children, so the father, your father, pities his children. But he doesn't say that. He says, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. That's how he describes a child of his. One who fears the Lord. Again, as we saw last week. David does not allow any room whatsoever for presumption. There's no room for presumption. Oh, there's no room for one saying, oh well, we're all of God's children after all, aren't we? No, he doesn't allow for that. Those who may lay claim to such a glorious blessing as having this yearning compassion bestowed upon them as a father does to a child are only those who fear the Lord. Those who trust Him and walk with Him and call upon the name of the Lord like Abraham. Only those who walk and believe upon Him and worship Him and bless His most holy name, those ones who fear the Lord, are those who can lay claim to this most glorious benefit of His chesed love, the compassion of God. And those who fear the Lord can truly know, I'm His child. Just meditate, just take the afternoon to meditate upon that simple truth that you're God's child. And what you would do for one of your own children, just multiply that by infinity and you might begin to get a glimpse of the kind of compassion that he has for you. Now David provides us in verse 14, the reason or the why for his pitying his children. And he writes these words, he says, for, there is the why, he's giving us the reason, for he knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. He knows how we've been formed, you see, because after all, he's the one that formed us. He's the one that shaped us. This verse is really hearkening back to Genesis chapter two, verse seven, where we read that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. So what's interesting here is that David is actually not highlighting what you and I would expect him to be highlighting in this verse 14. Because in the past verses, just review the last few sermons. What have they all been concerning? They've been concerning God dealing with us from a favorable disposition because of our transgressions. Because of our estate of sin and guilt and enslavement to sin and all of the ramifications that comes with being a sinner. He has spoken about God's mercy towards us who are sinners and his grace towards us who are sinners. But here, David does not associate, interestingly enough, the compassion of God to us in light of our sin. But rather, he associates the compassion of God to us in light of our creatureliness. not to our being a sinner. He says that God knows that we were formed from the dust of the ground. In other words, man is not God. That's a loaded statement. Man does not have just a portion of God within him. He does not have a slice of him that participates in the divine being. No, there is in fact no ontological connectivity. There is no point at which our being and the being of God connect and intersect. And in fact the scripture goes to great lengths to make dead certain that we do not have any conception that we are in any way divine or participate in the divine being. but rather to, he wholly separates the creature from mankind. Because it is said that God takes from something he's already created, namely dust, and it's from the dust that he creates you and me. He does not take a portion of himself He takes a portion of the created order and takes that which he has created, dust, to create you and me. As if he's screaming loudly to us, do not think in any way whatsoever that you participate in the divine being. No, in fact, even our glorification when you and I As Christians are in glory itself, glorification is not divinization. Even in glory, we do not participate in the divine being. No, there is a sharp distinction between the Creator and His creation. So David tells us that our God knows that we are not Him in any fashion whatsoever. We're created from the dust. Yes, God may have taken the rib of man to create the woman, but God did not take His own rib to create man. He took from the dust of the ground. And he says here in our text in Psalm 103, God knows that you are not him. We are not infinite. We're finite. God knows that is what David's saying. He's mindful of your finiteness. We're not omniscient, knowing and seeing all things how God does. We're not independent. We're wholly dependent. Only God is an independent being. We are not strong, but we are weak and we're frail. And God is anything but. Now why does the scripture even say that God remembers that we're dust? Why does he even invoke the language of remembering? Isn't God omniscient? Doesn't he know all of all things? Does God ever need to remember something as though he's forgotten it? No, you see, he uses this language not to speak of God's remembering for his sake, but he's using this language for our sake so that we might get a peer, a glimpse into something about who God is. Here we find the condescension of God using human language that you and I can identify with as human creatures. You and I can identify with the language of remember. We know what it means to remember. And what results from someone that remembers something, or even more importantly, remembers someone? Well, when one remembers, This yields or this results in one moving in action towards that individual. We find this, for instance, when Israel was in Egypt. And they were in bondage within Egypt. And their cries, the scripture says, went up to Yahweh. And what does the scripture say? It says that God then remembered His covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what does that mean? That means that God, based upon that covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and remembering that covenant, He now is ready to move forward in action on behalf of His children in bringing them up out of bondage and out of slavery, to bring them redemption. So this language is employed all throughout the Old Testament, this remembering, not that God has forgotten, but it's for our sake, to understand what's happening. by God evoking, if you will, within his perception that we are but dust. He remembers that we are but dust so that he is ready. He's in ready stance to move forward in action for our benefit and for our welfare. It doesn't mean that he woke up. He's ready to move in action for our benefit, to move in compassion. He's mindful of our frame. He remembers that we're finite and we have a finite perception of life. He knows and remembers that we possess only a limited creaturely knowledge of ourselves and all of our circumstances. We do not see comprehensively the beginning from the end like he does. And the Lord's mindful of that is what David's saying. He remembers that we are not divine, but we're creatures weak and frail and needy. And he is moved to compassion towards us, to act on our behalf and for our benefit as a good father who moves in compassion to act for and for the benefit of a child. And he does so as a child who will ever remain a child. to him. It's kind of an interesting concept. You and I are all at one point little children, but there is a time, or it could be said there's a time at which we become peers with our parents. And then eventually we become the place of parent to a child. And we understand then what it is to be a mature adult parent to a little child. But in our relationship to God, we are always at the status of child. And he is always at the status of adult father, if you will. We're always in a role of a little child to him. So like a good father, when he sees us in our weakness, losing our way, without proper understanding, without proper perspective, stumbling over everything in sight, he's moved with an intense compassion towards us. Like a good father, when he sees us in our frailty and being froward, he's moved with compassion to bear with us, to act in long suffering. with us. He's moved with compassion to be patient with us, to be tender with us and sensitive towards us as a good and loving father is to his own child. And not only this, he knowing our frame like a good father does not overload us with more than we can handle. He's a perfect and good father. And even in that which he gives us to bear, he's compassionate. As Spurgeon once put it, God always takes our frailty into account when he is apportioning to us our lot. He knows you're frail. He remembers that you are but dust. And he's moved with compassion to work for you and aid you and act on your behalf for your good. This is our God. So we find David in our passage this morning, moving away from the subject of justice, this whole idea of deserving something or not deserving something. And he would have our mind set this morning simply upon this. Our father's compassion towards us. You know, I said you could spend the rest of the day, you could spend a week or a month thinking about this kind of perfect compassion that abounds to you. That angle of the diamond. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him, for he knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. Thanks be to God for this. This is our God. A God who pities those who fear him like a father who pities his own child. What would a father do for his own child? Anything and everything. A father so pities his child, especially if his child is suffering in infirmity. that he himself wishes that he could trade places with his child and bear the weight of the burden for her, for him. Well, this is the kind of father that we worship this day. This is the kind of God that we bless this day. He moved with compassion. was indeed willing to trade places with his children so that he may carry their burden in their stead. This is the pattern of God's dealings with us in salvation. This is the pattern of the gospel, you see. That's what we find here, that yes, indeed, God Our Lord Jesus Christ, very God of very God, did just that. And out of compassion, He was willing to bear our burden, that He might give us His burden. And oh, you could think a day, a week, or a month about the burden of God. You know how He described it? It's light. It's light. It's light. And there you will find rest. traded our burden for His. And in the spirit of what we're learning in Sunday school even this morning, there's nothing between you and Christ Jesus. He's yours. Believe upon Him. Fear the Lord by trusting in Christ, the one who is very God of very God, who came to earth out of compassion, to exchange places, to exchange burdens, if you will, all for our sake, all for our sake that we might know of His faithfulness to us and even be able to sing of how great that faithfulness is to us throughout all of our days. Only the one who fears the Lord can sing of such love and faithfulness, isn't it? Well, how do we respond to this kind of fatherly compassion? Well, my dear brothers and sisters, the text before us tells us how we're to respond. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord's soul and all that is within me. Bless his name, this one who is abounding in fatherly compassion to you, his dear child. Our Father in heaven, we are grateful this day for our Lord Jesus Christ, the only one in whom we find your love and abounding compassion, that yearning compassion for us that certainly we do not deserve. Father, we thank you that in Christ you extend such compassion to us, not just as a neighbor or as just a creature, but that you extend to us such compassion that can only be likened as a father to his own child, one who would do anything and everything for his or her welfare. Father, we are grateful to you for the abundance of your compassion towards us in Christ Jesus and the way that you continue to lavish upon us such compassion day in and day out. Cause our hearts even this day to meditate on the depth of your chesed love, especially that cut of the diamond that speaks of the abundance of your compassion towards us, your children. And may it so stir our souls that we find ourselves blessing the Lord with all that is within us. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Children of God, look up and receive the blessing from the throne of God coming upon you, the children of God declaring to you. His mercy and His blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and until that time when Christ returns in all of His glory and then forever, world without end. Amen and amen.