September 24 — Psalm 146

“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!”

The contrast between G-d and humankind is often used in the Psalms as a way of dealing with the problem of fear in the face of human threats: Trust G-d and be unafraid of mortals. Here the contrast is used to address the problem of trusting in various leaders who make promises to save people from the predicaments of human and historical existence. The problem with human leaders is that they don’t “keep faith forever”; or their plans and promises die with them, or they were never planned for action in the first place. With their death, or the death of their promises, the hopes of those who trusted in them are dashed.

I should note that this Psalm does not say that leaders are unnecessary or not useful. But it does warn against trusting any and all human leaders for salvation. Hope based on what passes away is doomed to disappointment.

In contrast, we trust and believe that “the Lord will reign forever”. When we place our trust and our hope on the reign of G-d through the promises of Jesus Christ, then attaching ourselves to Jesus’ reign is founded on a reality that does not pass away. The G-d of Israel is king of the universe — the G-d of Jacob is our stronghold.

Let us Pray:

Blessed indeed are they who put their trust in you, O God, our sure rock and refuge. Guard us from giving to any other the allegiance that belongs only to you. Shine upon us with the brightness of your light, that we may love you with a pure heart and praise you forever; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.