Worth Praising – Psalm 146

A text – Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸ the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!

A reflection:

The last few psalms in the Book of Psalms are high praise psalms. This one reminds its hearers not to trust mortals – even princes! – who might be of no help at all and who return to dust like the rest of us. No – trust the ever-living God. Why? Because God created everything? Well, yes, but more than that:

Who keeps faith forever

Who executes justice for the oppressed

Who gives food to the hungry

Who sets prisoners free

Who opens the eyes of the blind

Who lifts up those who are bowed down

Who loves the righteous

Who watches over strangers

Who upholds the widow and orphan

This is the character of the God who loves you and me and is keeping a forever home in paradise for us. For heaven’s sake, praise the Lord!

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us the psalms to keep our attention on the amazing deeds you have done and continue to do. Help us to remember that you always keep your promises to watch over the weak and to lift up the fainting because you love us. Amen.