Scripture Reading: 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 while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his 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 sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Blessed Is He Whose Hope Is in the Lord
By James Huenink
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
Today's Psalm asks a question—not literally, but by implication: Who do you trust to save? Who is your help and protection? What is there for you? We human beings often turn to all sorts of things, whether it's the people around us, political figures, or whatever else: our work, our effort, our money, our family, our lives, whatever it is.
But the psalm answers the question very simply: "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, his God." Our King, our God, Jesus Christ, who has ascended into the heavens to sit at the right hand of the Father—only he can truly help us, only he has the power to save. And this is why the Psalm talks about who we should trust.
Put Not Your Trust in Princes
It says, "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish."
This is kind of a remarkable thing to put into the worship life of ancient Israel, given that it would be said while the king was there—the king of Israel, God's appointed person. You know, I've always thought when I read Psalms like this that it must have been written in a time when there was a bad king, a king like Manasseh, who would run around tearing down the altars of God, or who would put up altars to foreign gods inside the temple itself, and the priests were like, "But..."
I think it applies just as much for the good kings—even the best king, King Josiah. Josiah is the only king in all of ancient Israel where the Bible says nothing bad about him. In fact, what it says is this: "Before him, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him."
Josiah—great king, right? Nobody else, not even David, gets that kind of praise.
What did Josiah do? Well, when the temple was falling apart, he rebuilt it. When there were foreign gods inside the temple, he tore them down. He went to all the towns and destroyed their temples to Baal, tore down the Asherah poles. He went to all the high places where people were sacrificing wrongly to the true God, and he not only tore them down but defiled them so they could never be used again. He went into Israel and found Jeroboam's altars, and he destroyed them too. He found the book of the law and renewed the covenant, read it for all the people so they would hear it and understand it. And he restored the celebration of the Passover, which had been lacking.
Josiah, the great king. He did everything the kings were supposed to do. He was the best of all.
And then, you know what he did? He died, and his son took over and messed everything up. Because put not your trust in princes. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth.
Only God Is Truly Faithful
And it's not just guys like Josiah. Even the best king of all, everything that we have that we might trust in, everything around you, whatever it is—it ends up perishing. Only God has the power to save. Only God is truly faithful.
Our great God and King is the one who is faithful to all his promises. As the Psalm says, he is the one 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. Only God has the power to create, maintain and watch over all of creation. Only he can order all things for the good of those who love him. And only he sent our King, Jesus, to die on a cross and rise for you, and promises that he, as our King, now reigns over all creation for your good, with the power of God reigning for you. And by his death and resurrection, he promises you life that lasts forever.
Nothing else can promise that. Only the King who died and then rose and now lives forever for you. Only God is truly faithful. No person, no thing, can protect us like God can and keeps his promises forever.
God's Faithfulness Through the Ages
We get used to the idea of God being faithful, I think. When we read the story of the Old Testament, when we read all the promises, and it's packed together in just a few books, a couple of hundred pages, and you're like, "Wow, this is a great story," and we forget how long God's promises lasted, from the very beginning to the day Jesus ascended into heaven.
How long was God holding to the promise while the people waited? How many thousands of years was it from that moment when God said to Adam and Eve that he would send them a Savior who would crush Satan's head? How many lifetimes passed when it looked like the kings were going to destroy Israel or God wasn't coming to save his people?
The promise went to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they didn't see the promise that they had gotten. They didn't see the fulfillment of the blessing that would go to all nations of the earth. The promise to the faithful people who were bearing the yoke of evil kings, the promise to the people who went into exile in Assyria and Babylon—they didn't see it. But God kept his faith. Kept his promise.
They had prophets who called them out to say, "The promise is still here. Jesus is still coming. The Savior is on his way. Keep faith. God keeps his promises."
But it's only us, looking back on this history, who get to see that God actually comes through—that generation after generation who hoped for a Savior did not see the Christ, but we do, as we prepare to celebrate his incarnation. It may have seemed slow to them. Christ's return may even seem slow to us, but God is always faithful.
He sent his Son to do all the things that he promised. It may not have happened the way they expected, either. Isaiah talks about the promises of God, just as our Psalms do, talking about someone who will open the eyes of the blind, set the prisoners free, lift up those who are bowed down, watch over the sojourners and the fatherless. And that's what Christ did.
A reading from Matthew points to his miracles, to his healings, to the casting out of demons, and all the great gifts that Jesus did. And he died and rose, and now he promises he will return. Just as God kept his promise to Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the kings and all the rest, he will keep that promise to you.
Only God Can Heal
Because only he is truly faithful. Only he can arrange all of creation so that you can have life. Only God can heal.
This is the promise the Psalm tells us: when the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, who watches over the sojourner, upholds the widow and the fatherless and brings the wicked to ruin. Only God is the one who can truly give healing.
If you're like me and spend too much time scrolling through reels on the internet, you know there are lots of fitness influencers out there who will tell you that if you just cut out the right chemicals, eat the right things, never drink water from a plastic bottle, only eat the right kind of thing, you will live forever, right? That's basically what they're trying to say.
Guess what? They're wrong.
It doesn't matter how well you eat or what you do or how much exercise you got—only God can heal. And he showed us by raising his Son, Jesus Christ, giving him life that lasts forever, as the firstborn from the dead. Only he has the power, only he has the might to end sin, death and the devil forever. And Jesus—Jesus is the down payment, the firstborn of the resurrection, and he promises that he will come again, that he will raise all of us from the dead and give us eternal life.
Only God can do that. Only God can save.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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