Placing Hope in the Lord (Psalm 146:5-10)

Placing Hope in the Lord (Psalm 146:5-10)

 

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
 whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
 the sea, and everything in them—
 he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
 and gives food to the hungry.
 The Lord sets prisoners free,

8 the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
 the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
 and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
 but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns forever,
 your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.

 

 

Verse 5 of today’s scripture, “Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
 whose hope is in the Lord their God.

” is related to verses 3 and 4 before it: “Do not put your trust in princes,
 in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
 on that very day their plans come to nothing.”

 

Why is the Lord described as the “God of Jacob” in verse 5? It was to decipher the difference between the gods of the foreigners and to show the promise God made with Jacob. Hence, those who seek help in the God who made a promise to Jacob will be blessed.

 

Then how do we get God to help us? We must become people “whose hope is in the Lord.”

 

This means that the Lord must become my Lord and He must become the source of my hope.

 

The word emphasized here is “my”. Those who are blessed are those seek help from the God of Jacob and place hope in Him. Our relationship with God must be that close.

 

Maintaining this kind of relationship is the meaning of trusting God. Why should we place our trust in Him?

 

A) God is the creator and will forever be faithful

 

Verse 6 says, “He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
 the sea, and everything in them…”

 

1. We must trust Him because He is the creator and we are His creations. Trusting in the Lord is not a choice but our duty. Yet so many humans think it is a choice they can make.

 

God not only created everything, but He controls and reigns over it all. Humans, being one of God’s many creations, will only truly be happy when they follow His guidance.

 

2. The Lord is the Creator and is also forever faithful. The second half of verse 6 says that “… He remains faithful forever.” The laws of nature God set up never change. The Words of God never change. God is forever the truth and faithful.

 

A while back people were excited at the discovery of water on Mars 50cm below the surface. But even with such discoveries, how can anything live or grow where the temperature ranges from -60 at night to 20 in the day?

 

In nature changes too much, there can be no life. If the laws of nature, that God established, change too much, humans will not survive. If a seed is planted but nature is unpredictable, there is no way to know when it if will grow, if ever, nor when it will bear any fruit. Thus God created nature, with laws that are constant and will remain so. With such a God, why shouldn’t we trust Him?

 

B) God is just and solves our greatest problems.

 

Verse 7 says, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed
 and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free”

 

1. God brings justice to the oppressed. The world’s countries, governments, and legal systems claim that they will be true and ensure justice is served. But we all know that this is not always true. Problems are not solved and the guilty often run free while the innocent are sometimes punished. Corruption overflows and promises are never kept.

 

But God is nothing like this. He knows every hair on our head and knows of our deepest troubles. only God can free the oppressed and conduct proper judgment with true justice. Hallelujah!

 

2. God also solves fundamental problems of human which is feeding hungry people and free who are chained. Sometimes God punishes people who let other to starve and chained. He also helps indirectly by using representatives like kings or rich people or gives wisdom to troubled people themselves to solve their problems. We need to believe that God will solve our problems.

 

C) God is protector of people who are in pain, and isolation.

 

Verse 8 says “The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:”

 There is an essay “Three Days to See” by Hellen Keller. She was a blind so in that essay she wrote about how much she want to see the world with her own eyes.

In the Bible, God says He will open the blind’s eyes. He sometimes open one’s spiritual eyes instead of physical eyes.

 

One time, people asked Fanny Crosby “why don’t you ask God to open her eyes?”

Fanny Crosby which was famous hymn writer at those times answered “ God already opened my spiritual eyes and also the first thing I will see is the God at the Heaven so I am good with my conditions.”

 

2. God cares about isolated people.

Verse 9 says “The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”

Here ‘Strangers’ represent people who are wondering this world without having any idea of what they are doing. God says that He will be the protector of these people who are lost.

God also promises to protect people who are fatherless and widow.

D) God rules forever.

Verse 10 says “The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.” There are few old sayings which states that glory of human is never forever. However, God rules us forever. Forever means this life and the afterlife. Compare to the Heaven our life is very short, Bible refer our life as life of one day fly or a mist which vanishes when the Sun rises.

So we have to put our meaning of life on Heaven, not this world.

 

God also stresses that He loves good and hate evil. So we have to be good people in front of God. To be a good people you first need to have faith in Jesus. Without Jesus, it would be really hard to be saved.

 

2. God also hates evil people. He says he will bend their road. Evil people will be in curse of God forever.

 

Conclusion)

We have learned why we need to trust God.

First, He is our creator and forever truth.

Second, He judge people with justice and solve fundamental problems.

Third, He protects people in pain and isolation.

Fourth, He reigns forever.

People who pray and hope to God will be blessed, Hallelujah!