Psalms 146:1

The Bible says in Psalm 146:1-2, “ Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.[2] While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” We see from these verses that praising God is a decision, a very determined life-long decision. We must be determined to praise the Lord: to think about who He is and what He has done. Jesus died for us. We need no more than that to praise Him forever. David said that he will “sing praises” to God. God invented music so that we would use music to praise His name. That is what the Psalms were all about, and it is one of the important activities of church gatherings: to sing the songs that our brothers and sisters in Christ have written over the centuries to help us praise the Lord.

The Bible says in Psalm 146:3-4, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.[4] His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” If you do not trust in the Lord Jesus, then you will trust in someone or something else. Some people “trust” in political leaders instead of God. That is a big mistake. We should honor and respect our leaders, but we trust in God, not man. One of the problems in trusting in a human should be obvious: he is mortal. He will die. God lives forever.

The Bible says in Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” And the rest of the verses of this Psalm tell us why we are happy and blessed when we take God to be our help. Everyone needs help, so make sure that you look to the Lord for help.

It says in Psalms 146:6-10, “Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:[7] Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:[8] The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:[9] The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.[10] The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.” Those who trust in God are happy and blessed because God is the Creator of this earth and everything that is in it, and that means that He can do anything. It also means that He watches over His creation. Notice at the end of verse six that it gives another reason to be happy: God “keepeth truth for ever.” God gave us His truth when He inspired prophets in the writing of His Word. As it says in Second Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” And then somehow God has preserved His written Word using scribes over the centuries so that every generation of human beings would have the truth. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Verses seven, eight, and nine give more reasons to be happy about the Lord: He is kind and gracious and helpful to those who need help. God knows the condition of every human being, and He cares. He helps the “oppressed,” the “hungry,” and the “prisoners.” God “openeth the eyes of the blind,” both from a physical and a spiritual standpoint. Jesus healed the blind, and Jesus gives spiritual understanding to those who are spiritually blind. That is called being saved or born again. The love of God is mentioned in verse eight: “the LORD loveth the righteous.” He loves the believers: all of the believers, both weak and strong, because we are all righteous through Christ. Just think how a believer becomes righteous. We are sinners. We are not righteous in our works. We are unrighteous based upon our merits and our actual deeds. But God wanted to have a righteous people, and God can do anything. And so, God decided to simply declare that believers are righteous. The righteousness of Christ is credited to our account, and God loves doing that because it brings glory to the person and work of Jesus Christ. God loves the righteous.

Verse nine mentions those who are most vulnerable in society: strangers, orphans, and widows. These are people who do not have as much human help as others, and therefore God makes up the difference. He cares. The word that is translated “preserveth” means to guard or watch over. God’s heart goes out to those in need. That kind of love is shed abroad into the hearts of Christians. Believers who are in fellowship with Christ are the most compassionate people in the world because of the love of God.

Psalm 146:10 says, “The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.” Here is a good reason to praise the Lord: He will rule forever. The people of the earth argue and fight to get the preeminence and to gain the rule over others, but it is only for a very short time. “The LORD shall reign for ever.” Jesus is the King of kings, and once He comes and takes over everything, believers will rule with Him forever not for just a few short years. “Praise ye the LORD.”

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