Monday, August 18, 2025  

---

Today's Scripture
Psalm 103:1–8

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits —
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (NRSV)

---

Reflection

This is about our soul. Faith is about our soul. The Bible is about our soul. Worship is about our soul. Life is about our soul.

You might be thinking now of some invisible essence as your “soul.” Many regard our soul to be that part of us that is distinct from our body and that will go on once our body stops functioning.

But that’s very different from how the Bible describes the soul. Especially for the Hebrew parts of the Bible, the soul is all of us. It’s our whole being. There is no difference or distance between your body and your soul, for the Bible.

The idea that there is a permanent essence to us separate from the perishable, impermanent physical part of us does not come from the Bible. It comes from Greek philosophy. For the Bible, all we are — hands and feet, brain, thoughts, feelings — it’s all soul.

In fact, the Hebrew word that our English Bible translates as “soul” in this psalm is sometimes translated as something else entirely. Sometimes it’s translated as “strength.” Other times it’s actually “body.” There are even instances of that word in the Bible that are translated in English as a particular part of the body, like the throat.

So when the psalmist sings, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” he is singing to himself, his whole self. You see, we bless the Lord, we praise God, with our whole being. Even just within the space of this hour, we praise God with our mouths, singing songs and shouting “Bless the Lord!”

A life of faith is a life of soul, a whole life of loving God and loving our neighbor. Bless you today, this week, indeed for all your days, as you bless God in all you do.

---

Prayer

Lord Christ, we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, disconcerted by the world’s violence and its sorrow, distracted by our inward doubts and fears. Wherever we are on this day’s journey, breathe on us your gentle Spirit, that we may be oases of quietness and refreshment, bringing to your uneasy world reconciliation and peace. Amen.

(from Common Order, The Church of Scotland) 

---

Reflection written by Rocky Supinger, Senior Associate Pastor

Reflection © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email