Psalm 146:1-10 NKJV
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 While I live I will praise the Lord;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day his plans perish.
5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
10 The Lord shall reign forever—
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
The 146th Psalm is also a psalm of thanks. Especially in this day and age, people are prone to put all of their trust in the leadership running the country. While it may be understandable to desire leadership that is conservative and aims more toward godly values, it still doesn’t mean that all a person’s trust should be poured into that leader. That’s called idolatry. The 3rd verse of Psalm 146 puts a proper understanding in the mind of the reader/prayer: “Put not your trust in princes [leaders], in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”
Here’s how the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther put it: “This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; and it contains a blessed doctrine; namely, that we ought to trust in God, who alone can defend; and who does defend faithfully all those who trust in him, and all those whom the world hates and casts out. And the Psalm shows, that we ought not to trust in any man, not even in kings or princes, nor in the mighty, nor in the rich, as the world do. For (as the Psalmist saith) “it is God alone that can mightily and gloriously deliver out of affliction,” and all trust in man is deceitful and vain; for (to say nothing about the vanity of such trust in all other particulars) no man knoweth anything certain respecting his own life!” (Luther’s Manual on the Psalms, pgs. 400-401)
The psalm prophecies Jesus’ miracles in verses 4-6 — “the blind see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (see Matt. 11:5). Through His Word and Sacraments Christ continues to come and be the healer, the restorer, the anointed One through whom alone is salvation. It is He, says Psalm 146, “who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in the, standing guard over truth forever, doing judgment for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry.” Who else would we, believing/baptized Children of God want to turn or trust in?
Let us pray: O Lord, thanks be to You for bringing us to abandon all trust in man and trust alone in the only One through whom salvation comes, Christ Jesus. Amen.