Psalm 146 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 146 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Verse 2I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Verse 3Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
Verse 4When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Verse 5Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Verse 6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
Verse 7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
Verse 8the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
Verse 9The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Verse 10The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
The psalmist reminds us how God cares for the oppressed and sets the captive free—how God keeps promises with certainty quite unlike the uncertainty of trust that is lodged in leaders. We’re reminded as we read this psalm that words that come from the mouths of mortals can be taken differently than the words that God speaks. God’s promises and God’s words are with us forever, whereas the words of mortals perish when they take their last breath.
What promises do you hold to? Are they from mortals or from God?
Prayer
As we think this week about the oppressed, about the promises that God gives us, may we hear the words of God. May we remember those words that will never perish and may we trust in them. Amen.
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