Reflecting on the Psalms: Chapter 146

Psalm 146

¹Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
 
²While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
 
³Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
 
⁴His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
 
⁵Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
 
⁶Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
 
⁷Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:
 
⁸The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:
 
⁹The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

¹⁰The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Chapter 146

I already do praise Him (vv. 1-2) my time here on earth and I plan to in eternity. I see how putting trust in princes and the son of man (or mortal men) could be a problem -- because relying on them to help me or provide salvation for me would end in being misled and let down, which wouldn't be good. I am glad, though, that since God is perfect, I have the confidence to trust in Him regarding salvation. If I tried to trust in man for salvation, man could betray me, which is what I'm getting at. I know that God wouldn't have me trust in Him and betray me for doing so because that's not in His nature. In regards to trusting in man, what I get out verse 4 is that God is immortal and man is mortal, mostly because of where it says: "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth." In contrast, since God won't return to earth -- since man was created from the dust of the earth -- I don't have to worry about God fading away and losing hope in Him. He's eternal and because He is, He's always had thoughts towards me in terms of His plan for my life, which is another reason to trust in Him. I am happy that He is my help (v. 5) and is always there to help me out. I am happy knowing that I can trust in Him for salvation and for His plan for my life because I know that trusting in Him will never let me down. I don't have much to say about verse 6 except that I am reminded of some things that God has created and that He's always faithful, which is indicated by where it says "which keepeth truth for ever." In verse 7, I am reminded of when He helped me out during my darkest moment, particularly where it says: "Which executeth judgment for the oppressed." That, to me, means that He watched over me and His justice was at work so He could deal with the enemy's lies against me. I don't have much else to say about that verse nor can I relate to verse 8 on a large scale. I guess, before I became a Christian, I was spiritually blind becuase I didn't know what truth was and wasn't sensitive in a spiritual sense. He helped me to see the truth and I have been sensitive to it for most of my Christian life, when I realized it was about my faith, which I didn't know when I became a Christian. I'm not sure how I'd relate to verse 9, but I am thankful that His reign is eternal (v. 10). If it wasn't, His kingdom would eventually, I guess, vanish, which wouldn't be good because then there wouldn't be a way for Him to transform people when they come to Him. I figure that since His kingdom has always been there, there's always been people becoming a part of it. I've kinda talked about this before in regards to God's dominion, so I'm just adding to what I said. I do praise Him for His reign and for the fact that it's eternal.