This is the Psalm reading for this past Sunday, from the three-year lectionary Series A.
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
"...while I have my being" reflects the nature of our existence.
We exist with the intention that we would honor the God that created us. That we would be in proper relationship to our Creator.
We really do not have the right to portion out which parts of our lives belong to God.
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.
There are good rulers and bad rulers. Good leaders, bad leaders.
When we put the full measure of our hope in any created thing, we will inevitably be disappointed.
Even the powerful among us are appointed by God. (1 Peter 2:13-14) And God raises up and brings down the most powerful among us.
Earthly power is fleeting, limited, and easily corrupted.
"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:19
A "return to the earth" is the reality for all life. We live, we die, and God remains. But the promise is that the God that formed all human life from the dust, has promised to give us life again for those that are in Christ.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;
David's God (our God) is the God that controls the immense power of the heavens and the earth. Not just parts of each, the entirety of all creation. Think about how different this God is from the gods of the ancient world. Even Zeus -- the king of the Greek gods -- had a father and his power was limited.
Our God doesn't share power. He is sufficient, eternal, in and of Himself.
It is the God that tames the sea. The God that commands a fish to swallow His prophet.
It is the God who walked with Abraham. It is the God who made promises to Abraham and to his sons.
And its the God that who kept those promises both in their lifetime and beyond their lifetime. It is a God that exists beyond our perception of time and space.
7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
And for some reason, this God that has all the power, that can do whatever He wants, has chosen to be for us.
He intercedes for us. He cares for the oppressed. He cares for widows, orphans, the blind, the imprisoned.
You can't read this passage and not think about Jesus. Think about his ministry. Think about the people he spent time with. Jesus did these things!
Our God will bring justice to the whole earth and bring the wicked to ruin.
And He reigns forever.
Amen.
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