Psalms 103:1-22 (NLT)
1 A psalm of David. Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
6 The LORD gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
7 He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
13 The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children
18 of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!
19 The LORD has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything.
20 Praise the LORD, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands.
21 Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will!
22 Praise the LORD, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the LORD.
Psalm 103 begins and ends with the call, “Let all that I am…” This framing reveals a profound truth: who we are becomes praise in response to all that God has done. Our very being—shaped, sustained, and redeemed by His greatness—is an offering of worship.
Forgiveness, mercy, provision, renewal of strength, justice, and every good gift that flows from Him are not abstract ideas; they are intimate encounters with His nature. Each acknowledgment of these works becomes an “all-that-I-am” moment of praise—an opening through which faith receives more fully what He has already provided in abundance.
How precious is the praise that magnifies God’s tender mercies—His deep understanding of our limitations, our fragility, and the brevity of our lives on the earth. It was in this kind of praise that David himself found access to mercy and grace in moments of failure. By magnifying God’s compassion toward human weakness, David was delivered from condemnation and found salvation even under the weight of terrible guilt.
All creation declares reasons to praise the Lord, yet there is something uniquely precious about the “all-that-I-am” reasons—the ones that touch real life, real weakness, and real redemption. These are the praises that rise not only from awe, but from lived experience with a merciful God.