Remembering the Goodness of God

A Pastoral Message to New Believers Reflecting on Psalm 103:2–5

“Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and do not forget all His kind deeds—

He who forgives all your iniquities

and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the Pit

and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,

who satisfies you with good things,

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Psalm 103:2–5

Dear new believer, one of the most beautiful discoveries at the beginning of the Christian life is that following Jesus is not merely about learning a new set of beliefs. It is about discovering the goodness of the God who has called you to Himself.

You are beginning a journey of knowing God, trusting Him, walking with Him, and gradually learning what it means to live as someone who belongs to Christ. There will be many things to learn along the way. You will learn about prayer, Scripture, worship, obedience, fellowship, service, forgiveness, holiness, grace, and faith. Some truths will become clear quickly. Others will take years to understand more deeply.

But through every season of your Christian life, there is one truth you must continually remember: God has been exceedingly good to you.

Psalm 103 teaches us how important this remembrance is.

David speaks to his own soul and says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds.”

Notice that David tells himself not to forget.

There are certain truths that we must deliberately remember because life has a way of distracting us from them. Problems become loud. Disappointments become heavy. Temptations become persistent. Responsibilities become exhausting. Fear begins whispering. The failures of yesterday return to our thoughts, and the uncertainties of tomorrow begin demanding our attention.

Before long, we can become so focused on what is wrong that we forget what God has done.

That is why the Christian life requires holy remembrance.

You must learn to remind your own heart of the goodness of God.

When circumstances become difficult, remember His goodness.

When prayers seem unanswered, remember His goodness.

When you become discouraged with your spiritual growth, remember His goodness.

When temptation reminds you of your former life, remember His goodness.

When guilt tries to drag you backward, remember His goodness.

When the future feels uncertain, remember His goodness.

Your faith will not always be strengthened by discovering something new. Sometimes it will be strengthened by remembering something you already know.

And Psalm 103 gives you some wonderful things to remember.

First, remember that God forgives.

David describes the Lord as the One “who forgives all your iniquities.”

This truth stands at the very heart of your new life in Christ.

You did not become a Christian because you finally became good enough for God. You came to Christ because you discovered that you could never make yourself good enough. Christianity does not begin with human achievement. It begins with divine grace.

Sin separates humanity from God. It is more than making mistakes or occasionally choosing poorly. Sin is rebellion against the God who created us. It touches our thoughts, desires, words, attitudes, motives, and actions. No amount of moral improvement can erase our guilt before a holy God.

But the gospel announces something extraordinary.

God has provided forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Jesus carried sin to the cross. He willingly gave His life for sinners. He bore judgment, died, and rose again so that everyone who trusts in Him may receive forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life.

That means your past does not have the authority to define your future.

You may still remember things you regret. There may be choices you wish you could undo. There may be words you wish you could take back. There may be years you wish you could recover.

But when God forgives, He does not offer partial forgiveness.

He does not say, “I will forgive the respectable sins, but you must carry the shame of the others.”

He forgives completely.

As a new believer, learn to distinguish between conviction and condemnation. The Holy Spirit may convict you when you sin because God loves you and desires to lead you into holiness. Conviction draws you toward repentance and restoration.

Condemnation pushes you toward despair.

The voice of condemnation says, “You have failed again. God must be finished with you.”

The gospel says, “Come back to the Father.”

When you sin, confess it. Do not hide it. Do not defend it. Do not minimize it. Bring it into the light before God, receive His cleansing, and continue walking with Him.

Your failures should lead you toward Christ, not away from Him.

Remember also that God heals.

Psalm 103 speaks of the Lord “who heals all your diseases.”

Throughout Scripture, God reveals Himself as a God of healing and restoration. Sometimes He brings physical healing. Sometimes He gives strength to endure illness. And ultimately, through Christ, He promises a restored creation in which suffering, sickness, death, and sorrow will no longer have the final word.

But the healing work of God reaches deeply into the brokenness caused by sin as well.

When you come to Christ, you may bring wounds with you.

Conversion does not mean that every painful memory instantly disappears. You may still carry consequences from past decisions. You may have learned unhealthy patterns over many years. There may be fears that have shaped your thinking, relationships that have wounded you, or habits that will require patient spiritual growth to overcome.

Do not become discouraged if your transformation takes time.

God is not merely interested in changing where you will spend eternity. He is transforming who you are becoming.

He is teaching you to think differently.

He is reshaping your desires.

He is correcting false beliefs.

He is teaching you how to forgive.

He is teaching you how to love.

He is teaching you how to trust.

He is forming the character of Christ within you.

Some changes may happen dramatically. Others may happen quietly over years of prayer, Scripture, fellowship, obedience, repentance, and perseverance.

Do not measure God's work only by dramatic moments.

Sometimes healing looks like waking up one morning and realizing that something which once controlled you no longer has the same power.

Sometimes healing looks like responding with patience where you once responded with anger.

Sometimes healing looks like forgiving someone you once hated.

Sometimes healing looks like resisting a temptation that once seemed irresistible.

Sometimes healing looks like discovering that your identity is no longer built around your wounds.

God is working in you.

Be patient with the process.

Psalm 103 then reminds you that God redeems.

He “redeems your life from the Pit.”

Redemption is one of the great words of the Christian faith. It speaks of rescue, deliverance, and restoration. God does not simply forgive sinners and leave them where He found them. He brings them out of bondage and into new life.

This is what Christ has done for you.

You have been brought from death to life.

From darkness into light.

From alienation into fellowship.

From condemnation into grace.

From slavery to sin into freedom in Christ.

Your life now belongs to Jesus.

This does not mean your Christian journey will be easy. Jesus never promised His followers a life without difficulty. There will be trials. There will be temptations. There may be seasons when you feel spiritually strong and seasons when you feel weak.

But you no longer face these things alone.

The Shepherd who rescued you will continue walking with you.

You may sometimes stumble, but stumbling is not the same thing as being abandoned.

You may become discouraged, but discouragement does not mean God has disappeared.

You may walk through dark valleys, but the valley does not cancel the presence of the Shepherd.

The God who redeemed you is committed to completing His work in you.

Then David gives us another remarkable picture. God “crowns you with loving devotion and compassion.”

Think about that image.

God takes those He has rescued and places a crown upon them.

But the crown is not made of gold or jewels.

It is made of loving devotion and compassion.

Your life is surrounded by the steadfast love of God.

As a new believer, you must learn to build your identity upon this truth.

The world will offer you many competing identities. It will tell you that your worth comes from your accomplishments, appearance, possessions, influence, relationships, intelligence, career, popularity, or success.

The gospel gives you a different foundation.

You belong to Christ.

You are loved by God.

You have been forgiven.

You have been redeemed.

You have been welcomed into God's family.

You are becoming a new creation.

Your value does not rise when people praise you or collapse when people reject you.

You are crowned with the loving devotion and compassion of God.

This becomes especially important when you begin discovering your weaknesses.

New believers sometimes imagine that mature Christians no longer struggle. But spiritual maturity is not the absence of dependence upon grace. Spiritual maturity is learning how deeply you need grace.

The longer you walk with Christ, the more clearly you will see both the seriousness of sin and the greatness of God's mercy.

Do not let the discovery of your weakness surprise you.

Let it teach you dependence.

You need Christ every day.

You need His Word every day.

You need His grace every day.

You need His Spirit every day.

You need prayer.

You need fellowship with other believers.

You need the church.

You need correction.

You need encouragement.

You need mercy.

Christianity is not graduating from dependence upon God. It is learning to depend upon Him more completely.

David continues by saying that God “satisfies you with good things.”

This does not mean that God promises to give you everything you want.

Sometimes one of the first lessons a believer must learn is that God's goodness is greater than our desires.

We often think we know what will satisfy us.

We chase success, approval, comfort, possessions, relationships, experiences, and countless other things. Some of these things can be genuine gifts from God. But none of them can carry the weight of being the foundation of your soul.

Only God can do that.

The deepest hunger within the human heart is ultimately a hunger for God.

You were created to know Him.

This is why even wonderful earthly things eventually disappoint us when we ask them to become ultimate things.

A career cannot save you.

Money cannot forgive you.

Popularity cannot give you eternal life.

Pleasure cannot reconcile you to your Creator.

Another human being cannot become your Savior.

But God can satisfy the deepest hunger of your soul because your soul was created for Him.

Learn, therefore, to enjoy God's gifts without turning them into gods.

Receive friendships gratefully.

Enjoy creation.

Work faithfully.

Celebrate good things.

Love your family.

Use your abilities.

But let Christ remain at the center.

When Christ is central, everything else can take its proper place.

Finally, David says that God renews us “like the eagle’s.”

The Christian life is a life of continual renewal.

You will need this renewal many times.

There will be days when you feel spiritually tired.

There will be times when prayer feels difficult.

There may be seasons when reading Scripture feels dry.

There will be moments when you wonder why growth seems so slow.

Do not confuse spiritual weariness with spiritual defeat.

Return to the Lord.

The Christian life is not sustained by your ability to remain endlessly strong. It is sustained by God's ability to renew you.

Learn early in your Christian journey that weakness is an invitation to dependence.

When you are tired, come to Christ.

When you are confused, come to Christ.

When you have sinned, come to Christ.

When you are afraid, come to Christ.

When you are grateful, come to Christ.

When life is beautiful, come to Christ.

When life is painful, come to Christ.

Keep coming.

There is no stage of Christian maturity in which you outgrow your need for Jesus.

And there are practical habits that will help you remember His goodness.

Read Scripture regularly, not merely to gather information but to know God.

Pray honestly. You do not need impressive language. Speak to your Father.

Become connected to a faithful local church where Scripture is taught, Christ is honored, and believers encourage one another.

Spend time with mature Christians who can help you grow.

Learn to confess sin quickly rather than allowing it to hide in darkness.

Practice gratitude.

Serve others.

Worship with God's people.

And when you fail, get up again.

Do not build your Christian life around your ability to perform perfectly. Build it around the faithfulness of Christ.

There will be much for you to learn, but you do not need to learn everything today.

Walk with God today.

Trust Him today.

Obey what you understand today.

Receive His grace today.

Then do the same tomorrow.

Years of faithful discipleship are built from ordinary days of trusting Jesus.

And throughout those days, remember Psalm 103.

Do not forget His benefits.

Remember the God who forgives your sins.

Remember the God who heals and restores.

Remember the God who redeemed your life from destruction.

Remember the God who crowns you with steadfast love and compassion.

Remember the God who satisfies you with good things.

Remember the God who renews your strength.

Your Christian life began because God was gracious toward you, and your Christian life will continue because God remains gracious toward you.

You will change.

Your circumstances will change.

Your understanding will deepen.

Your faith will be tested.

Your seasons will come and go.

But the character of God remains steadfast.

When you cannot understand what He is doing, remember who He is.

When you cannot see the road ahead, remember who walks beside you.

When your strength feels small, remember where your strength comes from.

When your past tries to reclaim you, remember who redeemed you.

When shame speaks loudly, remember who forgave you.

When the world promises satisfaction, remember the One who truly satisfies.

And when your soul becomes weary, remember the God who renews your life like the eagle's.

Dear new believer, you have not merely adopted a religion. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you have been brought into a life with God.

You are learning to walk with the One who made you, loves you, redeemed you, and calls you His own.

There will be mountains and valleys ahead. There will be questions and discoveries. There will be moments of remarkable joy and seasons requiring patient endurance.

Through them all, keep remembering.

Bless the Lord when the road is easy.

Bless the Lord when the road is difficult.

Bless the Lord when answers come quickly.

Bless the Lord when you must wait.

Bless the Lord when you feel strong.

Bless the Lord when you need His strength to carry you.

And do not forget all His kind deeds.

For the God who began this work in you is the God who forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and renews.

Your hope is not that you will always hold perfectly onto Him.

Your hope is that He faithfully holds onto you.

So keep walking.

Keep learning.

Keep praying.

Keep trusting.

Keep returning to Scripture.

Keep gathering with God's people.

Keep turning away from sin.

Keep receiving grace.

Keep looking to Jesus.

And throughout the journey, teach your soul to remember:

The Lord has been good.

The Lord is good.

And the Lord will remain good forever.