Psalm 146 "Which Crown?"

Psalm for Today = 146:1-2, 5
^“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being… 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God…”

Comments:

Napoleon's Crown

Who will wear the crown in our lives? Who will we serve? Who will we trust? Who will we praise?

 

Here in verses 1-2 the psalmist recognizes that his time is limited ("while I have my being") and chooses to spend his time praising the God whose reign will never end, rather than going all-in with any temporary human government (v. 3-4).

Human leaders, even good ones don’t last forever. The weight of bureaucracy and the inertia of the status quo (strengthened by off-setting special interests) will dampen the effectiveness of any human leader. Add in term limits and an administration is gone from the scene very rapidly. Even in a monarchy, the lifespan of a king or even the length of any dynasty is brief in the narrative of human history.

Ultimate trust and hope should not be in government, no matter how benevolent. In this country today we are in danger of giving the government a degree of trust for our well-being that it doesn’t deserve…only God does. He keeps all his campaign promises—forever (v. 6)!

Crown of Thorns

Finally, in v. 7-10 we read the justice resume of the King of kings and Lord of lords! There are at least ten clear reasons listed to be thankful every day...because this is the kind of Lord we serve! Poetry aside, here is a representative list of the qualities of the Lord our great and loving King.

• He keeps faith forever
• He executes justice for the oppressed
• He gives food to the hungry
• He sets the prisoners free
• He opens the eyes of the blind
• He lifts up those who are bowed down
• He loves the righteous
• He watches over the sojourners
• He upholds the widow and the fatherless
• He brings to ruin the way of the wicked
• He reigns forever!

Go and see if this is not the kind of God the world needs today. Would we choose the Lord Jesus or are we too comfortable with the petty political Napoleons that we already have? While I know that all too often I have trusted the world's way, and by my sin caused Jesus to wear the crown of thorns, I know that Jesus chose to do so because he loved me as one of those described in (v. 7-9). I will praise him for his love in action! I for one want to live into his abundant blessing!

Question:

Will the luster of worldly power and glory capture our hearts more than the crown of thorns?

 

If the Lord is like this (v. 6-10), in what ways is he directing us to participate in his mission today?