Psalm 146

Introduction

The psalms are divided into five books and there’a short doxology at the end of the first and second and third and fourth books. So, the final verse of the first book is:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

And the final verse of the second book is:

Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvellous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.

And the final verse of the third book is:

Praise be to the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen. And the final verse of the fourth book is:
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord.

So, the four previous books have all ended with a short doxology: usually just one verse. But the fifth book of the psalms is different. It doesn’t end with a brief doxology. It ends with five doxological psalms or five psalms of praise. And the five psalms of praise which bring the fifth book of the psalms to an end begin with today’s psalm: Psalm 146.

Verses 1 and 2

It begins with ‘Praise the Lord’ or ‘Hallelujah’. The psalmist is calling on God’s people to praise the Lord their God. And in the second line, he addresses his own soul. That is, he addresses himself. He’s telling himself to praise the Lord. And since the soul stands for all that we are, or since it refers to what we are deep down inside, then he’s telling himself to praise the Lord from the heart and with his whole being. As one writer (Dickson) puts it, ‘All the powers of the soul must be stirred up.’ So, with our mind, we’re to think about what makes God praiseworthy. With our memory, we’re to remember all the praiseworthy things God has done for us in the past. And with our heart and affections, we’re to love and admire him.

And having summoned himself in verse 1 to praise the Lord, the psalmist resolves in verse 2 to do exactly that. He promises to praise the Lord and to sing praise to him. And whereas some people praise the Lord for a while and then they get distracted by other things, or they grow weary, the psalmist is determined to praise God throughout his life. He will not stop worshipping the Lord, but will praise the Lord for all his life and for as long as he lives.

Think of the things that distract us. Someone gets married and becomes busy with his spouse. Someone has children and gets busy with his family. Someone gets a new job and their career begins to take up more and more of their time. Someone retires and they tell themself they deserve a rest now. Someone has grandchildren and they get busy with them. We can so easily let other things — even good things — take up so much of our time and attention that we get distracted from doing the thing we were made to do which is to praise the Lord our God.

And since we can get distracted so easily, we should make an agreement with ourselves that we will not let anything keep us from praising the Lord our God. We should resolve that we will praise the Lord every day and join with our fellow believers on the Lord’s Day especially to praise him.

And, of course, the psalmist tells himself to praise ‘the LORD’. And the name LORD is in capital letters, which tells us that this is God’s special covenant name which speaks to us of God’s love and commitment to us. The Lord our God has bound himself to us with a promise to love and care for us always. He has committed himself to us. And in response, the psalmist commits himself to praise the Lord.

Verses 3 and 4

In verses 3 and 4 we have a warning. The psalmist warns us not to put our trust in princes. When he refers to princes, we’re to think of powerful people.

Throughout the history of Israel’s kings, when God’s people were threatened by enemy nations, they were often tempted to turn to pagan kings for help. However, instead of trusting in these pagan kings for help, they were meant to trust in the Lord their God, who was the only one who was able to help them. What are princes after all? They are only mortal men, says the psalmist. They are only human and they cannot save. In fact, what he says is that there is no salvation in them. And he means there is no salvation in them, even for themselves. They cannot save themselves, let alone anyone else, because even the most powerful prince is destined to die. The day will come when his spirit will depart from him and his body will return to the ground from whence it came. And so, if a prince cannot save himself from death, why would we trust in him to save us from death?

And on the day he dies, all his plans for the things he hoped to accomplish will come to nothing. Is that the person we should trust in? Should we put our hope in someone who is unable to carry out his plans and purposes? Instead of trusting in someone like that, we should trust in the everlasting God who is able to do all that he has planned and no one is able to thwart him. He’s the one we’re to turn to in all our troubles.

I should perhaps add that this doesn’t mean we’re not to visit a doctor when we’re unwell and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call the police when someone breaks into our home. We can still look to humans for help, but even while we look to humans for help, we’re asking the Lord to help them as they help us. And we believe that whatever help they give us comes ultimately from the Lord. And that means that not only do we thank the doctor who helped us and the police officer who protected us, but we give thanks to the Lord who gives us doctors and police officers and others. And ultimately, the only one who is able to keep us from death for ever is the Lord our God. And so, we’re to trust in him and in him alone for the resurrection and everlasting life in his presence.

Verses 5 to 9

Having warned us against trusting in princes and other powerful people in verses 3 and 4, the psalmist goes on in verse 5 to pronounce a blessing on all those who trust in the Lord instead of in princes.

So, blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob and whose hope is in the Lord his God. When Jacob had to flee from his family home, because Esau was angry with him, he set up a pillar to the Lord at Bethel and committed himself to serving God, because God was committed to helping him. And during the time he was with his uncle Laban, God helped him prosper and do well. And then God enabled Jacob to become a mighty nation by giving him twelve sons and all their descendants. God helped Jacob continually. And blessed are all those who look to Jacob’s God for the help they need. They are blessed, because Jacob’s God is the Maker of heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So, he’s mighty God. And he’s a faithful God. And he upholds the cause of the oppressed and he gives food to the hungry. So, he gives justice and sustenance. He sets prisoners free and gives sight to the blind. Think of how he rescued his people from their captivity in Egypt. Think of how he set his people free from their exile in Babylon. And while I don’t think there’s a record in the Old Testament of the Lord giving sight to the blind, the Lord promises his people through Isaiah that the day will come when the deaf will hear and the blind will see. And that day came, when God came to earth in the person of his Son and healed the blind and deaf.

The Lord also lifts up those who are bowed down and he loves the righteous. That is, he loves his people and does good to them. He even watches over the alien. Do you see that in verse 9? So, the Lord welcomed foreigners who joined his people. Think of Rabab who joined the Lord’s people after the fall of Jericho. Or think of Ruth the Moabitess, who returned to Bethlehem with Boaz, even though she was a foreigner. And the Lord was kind to her. The Lord welcomes foreigners and he cares for the fatherless and the widows. Orphans and widows in Israel had no family to help them. But the Lord cared for them and commanded his people to look after them in their distress and not to take advantage of them.

The Lord is good to all who trust in him and who put their hope in him. But he will frustrate the way of the wicked. And so, everyone should turn from their wickedness and trust in the Lord. We should cling to him by faith and rely on him to help us and to care for us and to do good to us. He’s willing to help us because he’s kind and good. And he’s able to help us because he’s Mighty God who made and who sustains all things.

Verse 10

And in the final verse, the psalmist addresses Zion. In other words, he addresses God’s people in Jerusalem. And he assures them that their God reigns for all generations and for ever. He is the Eternal God who is without beginning and without end. He is the everlasting God who rules for ever and for ever. And we should praise him as long as we live, worshipping him without weariness, because there is none like him.

Conclusion

The psalmist commits himself to praising the Lord as long as he lives. And he trusts in the Lord, instead of in princes and other powerful people, because the Lord alone is trustworthy. And the God in whom we trust sent his Only Begotten Son into the world to give up his life as the ransom to pay for our sins and to shed his blood to cleanse us of our guilt. And because he died for us and was raised, all of God’s believing people receive the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and of everlasting life in the presence of the Lord our God, where we will join with all God’s believing people to praise the Lord for ever and for ever.