If Only We Had Someone
Often times we hear of people who say things like “If only this person would do this.” Or “If only this politician would get this done.” It is part of human nature to attempt to place faith in other infallible humans. We want to believe that others can get things done that we cannot and this will cause the world to become a better place. The mistake in this line of thinking is that we are placing our faith in someone who is no more powerful then ourselves. Psalm 146 is a great explanation on were we need to place our faith.
“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. 2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 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.”
From the very beginning of this psalm we see that we should not place our trust in humans, the reasoning is that they cannot save us. The only One who can is Jesus Christ, and for this reason we need to praise Him all our days. Not just the good days, but the days when the world is growing dark. Man will eventually die; their ability to complete anything relies on there to be breath in their lungs, when this ends there is no more that mortal man can do. God, who has created heaven and earth and all that is on it, remains forever. He is the same as He was then, the same now, and the same forever. “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8.
Not only does God remain the same, but He is the only one who can successfully take up the cause of those who are struggling. The Bible is filled with examples of God completing the tasks that we see in Psalm 146.
Let us start with verse seven, “7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.” The first that comes to my mind is in Matthew 15 with the feeding of the four thousand. Jesus took seven loaves of bread and a few small fish and provided for a large crowd, not only that but there was enough food leftover to fill seven large baskets. Verse seven also shows that the Lord sets prisoners free. I believe that this can be taken two ways. First, that Jesus frees us from being bound to sin, “34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” John 8:34. But by His work on the cross, we no longer need to be bound to sin. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Romans 6:6-7.
The second way that the Lord has set prisoners free is very much a literal interpretation. Look at Acts 16:16-40. In this passage we see that Paul and Silas had been sent to prison, however, God sent an earthquake that opened the prison gates. This is one of two different times that God has released Paul from a physical prison.
Verse eight discusses three things that the Lord does, “the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.” We see that Jesus Christ opens the eyes of the blind in Mark 8:22-24, “22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”. When I hear the term “bowed down” I think of people who are so broken emotionally and spiritually that they have fallen down and are unable to stand without help. Christ does this with every person who recognizes their sins and inability to meet God’s standards without someone intervening on their behalf. The Bible is filled with examples of this, but I think David is probably one of the best examples. Here was a man who through his own selfish desires went against God’s Word; however, once David recognized his wrongs, God came alongside him and lifted him up.
Whenever I reflect upon verse nine, I can’t help but think of Ruth. She was both a widower and a foreigner. And yet God was with her and blessed her actions by helping Naomi. On the opposite side, we see God frustrating the paths of the wicked. All you have to do in order to see this happen is read the account of Balak and Balaam in Numbers 22-23.
Finally, we reach verse ten, “10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!” We know from Revelation that God will in fact physically rule one day from Jerusalem and this is perhaps the biggest hope that a true born-again Christian has. Currently we have people in charge who are fallible, who make mistakes. They are placed there by God, but their humanity directly points to the need of hope being placed in Jesus as the true ruler. There will come a day when the perfect God is in charge; and when that day comes, the world will know true peace and prosperity. It is with this hope that we must praise God and teach these things to all generations
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex