Psalm 146 is the beginning of the end if you will for the collection we know as the "Psalms". This is the first of the last section of Psalms and the beginning of a series of 'Praise Psalms', with each beginning with and ending with "Praise the Lord".
Verses 1 & 2 in Psalm 146 lift up in words that we should live our lives as liturgy, continually praising our Lord and lifting up songs of celebration and praise. We are called to praise our God with every fiber of our being, right down to our very soul.
Verses 3 & 4 warn us against placing our faith and trust in human beings. We are reminded that all are merely mortals and all will pass away and the atoms of their bodies shall be returned to the Earth, all their plans, their desires, their unfinished works shall pass from this realm.
In verses 5, 6, & 7, the Psalmist turns the attention to where we need to divert our focus, and that is to God. It is in God were our help is found, and where our true hope resides. Our Lord brings justice to this world and cares for any and all. The God who created all that we see... the heaven and the earth... this same God cares equally for each and every one of us. We as Christians see a hint towards the coming and sacrifice of Christ in the ending of verse 7 "the Lord sets the prisoners free". These words ring out to us how Christ would come into this world to redeem His lost people.
These words of encouragement and reassurance continue through verse 8 and through the first two lines of verse 9. Verse 9 ends however with a warning to the wicked, for the wicked shall be brought to ruin, there is a dreadful price of some form to pay for failing to uphold the Lord.
Verse 10 brings us back to the beginning of the Psalm, and (just like all of the remaining Psalms in the Psalter) we end with "Praise the Lord". And thus we are reminded once again that life is to be lived as a celebration to God, our lives are intended to sing praises to the Lord... our lives are to be liturgy for God.
Be a blessing to someone today!
In His Praise,
Roy
Psalm 146 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Praise for God’s Help
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!
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