June 20 - Keep Your Faith

Read Psalm 146

Context: This is the first of a group of five Psalms that close out the book. Each of them is 'framed' with the words "Hallelujah" which has been translated in the NIV as 'Praise the Lord'.

Text:
1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise the LORD, O 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 mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who 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 alien
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.
Footnotes:
Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah ; also in verse 10

If you look back at verse 5, the writer tells us that those who hope in the Lord are blessed. I looked up 'blessed' in the Hebrew dictionary, and it says: "how happy!, i.e., a heightened state of happiness and joy, implying very favorable circumstance and enjoyment" (ref 1).

Sometimes it's hard to remember God blesses our hope in him by giving us joy, especially when we are dealing with friends who need our comfort. They are usually pretty miserable...in pain, in fear, or having a devastated spirit due to their circumstances, so much that they are unable to see many of their blessings for a time. It's also tough as a caretaker to enjoy your own blessings because you feel guilty that you have it so good when others are suffering.

While it is important to empathize with others so you can understand their feelings, it is also important that you don't lose your sense of hope. You have been placed along side of them to help them remember to turn to God, and the strength you gain from your hope in God will be plain to see even if you don't say a word. It's easy to be disappointed or even angry with God when we see the difficulties of this world, but your belief that God is faithful and that he is in control despite the circumstances may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.


Ref 1: Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament). electronic ed. Oak Harbor : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. DBLH 897