Psalm 146 – Praise the Lord but be sure to trust Him

Psalm 146 is one of the 50 Psalms in which the author is not known. It is also one of the five “Hallelujah Psalms” that starts to move toward to the close of this book. Every one of these five Psalms ends with the word Hallelujah which means praise the Lord. This is indeed a fitting thing to do for all who love God. Moreover, He deserves to be praised because of Who He is, what He had done, and will continue to do for us and all mankind. This Psalm tells us how blessed we believers are, for our trust and hope is in this Lord God. He is the same God whom Jacob trusted and the Sovereign Whom all godly saints throughout the ages trusted, and set their hope in and so must we.    

Though unknown, the author made known that he himself had and would continue to praise the Lord. He urged everyone to praise the Lord, even as he vowed to praise this God as long as he himself should live. Since this God is worthy of our praise, He is certainly worthy of our trust. So we shall see the rest of the verses from verse 3 calling us to trust in Him. But before he proceeds to talk about why God deserves our trust, he first warns us that it is utter foolishness to place our hope and trust in man, whether that man has a status in life or not. Whether the person we put our trust in is a prince or an ordinary person, we are most unwise to set our hope in him. Why? Firstly, it’s because he is a mere man. Hence, he will not have the capability to save completely. And secondly, because he is a man, his feeble help is as short as his life, for it will eventually come to an end too. No matter how capable a man is, there is limitation to his help. Don’t put your entire hope in man.

But trusting the Lord put us on an entirely different platform. This God, who was Jacob’s helper, will also help us when we place our trust in Him. Hence it would also be foolhardy not to trust Him. In verses 6-10, the Psalmist then gives us many reasons why we and everyone should put our trust and set our hope on God. Here is the list. From verse 6, we know that He is not only the great Creator but also the powerful, faithful, and just God. In verse 7, we see that He is a provider and the One who sustains the hungry by providing food. Also in verse 7 and part of verse 8, we are told that He is a compassionate God, who would set man free form their bondage, open blind eyes and raise the hope of those who are oppressed. Verse 8 also tells us that He is a God who loves, and He especially loves the righteous. In verse 9, we can see that He is also full of mercy. In Him, strangers can find preservation while orphans and widows can also find relief. But He will not honor the wicked. In fact He would frustrate and thwart the plans of the wicked and their evil schemes. And finally in verse 10, we are told that He will reign forever because He is the ever-living God. No wonder Hallelujah and praise the Lord are due to Him forever. Thus, there are three things that should be constantly among the prime activities of our journey in life. We must praise Him. We must also set our hope and put our trust in Him!