This 5-day devotional draws directly from JAXSBC's sermon “July 12, 2026 - JaxSBC Sunday Morning - Psalm 103 - 2026-07-13” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Don't Forget What He's Done
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever walked through something hard and come out the other side, only to slowly forget just how far God brought you?
Today's Scripture "My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all his benefits: He forgives all your iniquity. He heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with faithful love and compassion." — Psalm 103:2–4
Reflection There's a reason David opens Psalm 103 with a command to himself: don't forget. He's not writing from a place of ease. He knows what it is to be broken — to have made a wreck of things and cried out to God in the dark. And he knows what it is to be restored.
That's the journey of Psalm 103. It's a song sung by someone who has been through the worst of it and come out the other side marveling at the goodness of God.
The benefits David lists aren't abstract theology. They're personal. Forgiveness of real sin. Healing of real pain. Redemption from real pits. A crown of faithful love placed on a head that deserved nothing of the kind.
This week, we're going to sit with one of the most beautiful truths in all of Scripture: that God does not treat us as our sins deserve. He meets us with compassion, not condemnation. With love, not ledger books.
That truth is worth pausing over. Worth letting sink in. Worth building your whole week on.
Today's Step Take two minutes today and write down three specific things God has done for you — moments of forgiveness, rescue, or unexpected grace. Let that list be the beginning of your own Psalm 103.
A Closing Thought You are not forgotten by God, and his goodness toward you is not finished. The best reason to bless him today is simply this: he has been faithful.
He Didn't Give You What You Deserved
Tuesday — When It's Hard
It's easy to believe God is good when life is going well. But what about when you're carrying guilt, or when you feel like you've disqualified yourself from grace?
Today's Scripture "He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him." — Psalm 103:10–11
Reflection Here's an honest thought: sometimes grace is hard to receive. Not because it isn't real, but because we know ourselves too well. We remember what we've done. We remember how many times we've failed at the same thing. And somewhere in the back of our minds, we're waiting for God to finally lose patience with us.
David knew that feeling. Psalm 51 — written after one of the worst seasons of his life — is full of it. He cried out to God from a place of deep shame, asking for a clean heart, desperate for restoration.
But Psalm 103 is what came after. And the thing David keeps coming back to, over and over, is this: God didn't give me what I deserved.
That's not a small statement. The Bible is clear that the wages of sin is death. What we deserved was judgment. What we received was mercy — because Jesus took the full weight of that judgment on himself at the cross.
You don't have to earn your way back into God's good graces. You were never meant to. Grace means the debt has already been paid — completely, finally, forever.
Today's Step If guilt has been whispering that God is done with you, speak this truth back to it today: "He has not dealt with me as my sins deserve." Say it out loud if you need to.
A Closing Thought The cross wasn't a temporary fix — it was a finished work. God's compassion toward you is not running out.
Counting Your Blessings (For Real This Time)
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
"Count your blessings" can sound like a greeting card cliché — until you actually try it and realize how quickly it changes something in you.
Today's Scripture "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." — Psalm 103:1–2
Reflection David doesn't just say "feel grateful." He says bless the Lord with everything that is within you. That's an active, intentional, whole-person response to who God is and what he's done.
And notice — he has to tell himself not to forget. Gratitude doesn't always come naturally. Our minds drift toward what's missing, what's hard, what hasn't worked out yet. That's just honest human nature. Which is exactly why David's command to his own soul matters so much.
Practicing gratitude is a spiritual discipline. It's not about pretending life is perfect. It's about deliberately turning your attention toward the real and specific ways God has shown up — in forgiveness, in provision, in healing, in simply being with you through hard days.
Here are a few small ways to try this today: Start your morning by naming one thing God has done for you before you check your phone. Keep a running note on your phone where you add one blessing a day this week. When worry creeps in, pause and recall one time God came through. These aren't magic tricks — they're the same thing David was doing in Psalm 103. He was preaching to his own soul.
Today's Step Before you go to sleep tonight, tell God — out loud or in writing — one specific benefit you don't want to forget. Make it real and personal.
A Closing Thought A grateful soul is a soul that's paying attention. And when you pay attention, you'll find that God has been more present than you realized.
A Father Who Knows Your Weakness
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Think about the most patient, tender moment you've ever witnessed between a parent and a child. Now imagine that's how God sees you.
Today's Scripture "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust." — Psalm 103:13–14
Reflection Imagine a dad playing basketball with his seven-year-old in the driveway. He could block every shot. He could win every game without trying. But he doesn't. He lets the kid drive past him. He watches the shot go up and cheers when it goes in. Not because the child is stronger — but because the father knows exactly who he's playing with, and he loves him.
That's the picture David paints here. God is not a distant judge waiting to catch you failing. He's a father who knows what you're made of. He remembers you are dust — fragile, temporary, prone to stumbling. And he meets you there with compassion, not disappointment.
This matters especially for people who grew up without that kind of father. If your experience of earthly fatherhood was cold, absent, or harsh, it can be genuinely hard to picture God as tender. But Psalm 103 is an invitation to let that image be rewritten.
God sees your exhaustion. He knows what makes you cry. He understands the weight you carry. And he is not standing over you with arms crossed — he is leaning in with compassion.
Today's Step Sit with this question today: What would change in how I approach God if I truly believed he sees my weakness and responds with compassion instead of frustration?
A Closing Thought You don't have to be strong to come to God. You just have to come. He already knows what you're carrying.
Love That Has No Ending
Friday — Carrying It Forward
As this week closes, here's the question worth taking into your weekend: What would it look like to live from a place of deep, settled trust in God's love — not just today, but for the long road ahead?
Today's Scripture "But from eternity to eternity, the Lord's faithful love is toward those who fear him… The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all." — Psalm 103:17, 19
Reflection David ends Psalm 103 with his gaze lifted high. He's moved from the personal — my forgiveness, my restoration, my frailty — to the cosmic. He's remembering that the God who has been faithful to him is the same God whose throne is established forever, whose kingdom has no end, whose love stretches from eternity to eternity.
This is what makes the faithful love of God so different from every other kind of love we experience. Human love is wonderful, but it's fragile. It can be withdrawn, worn down, or cut short. But the Hebrew word David uses — hesed — is covenant love. It's the kind of love that doesn't run out. It doesn't expire when you mess up. It doesn't fade when life gets complicated.
This week we've sat with the truth that God doesn't treat us as our sins deserve, that he sees our weakness with compassion, and that his benefits are worth counting every single day. Now take that truth forward. Into your weekend. Into next week. Into the years ahead.
You serve a King whose reign has no term limit, and whose love for you has no sunset.
Today's Step As you head into the weekend, choose one phrase from this week to carry with you — maybe "He has not dealt with me as my sins deserve" or "His faithful love is from eternity to eternity." Let it be the thing you return to when life gets loud.
A Closing Thought The same God who was faithful yesterday will be faithful tomorrow — and a trillion years from now, you'll still be discovering just how deep that love goes.