Well everyone let me just say welcome back to you all! It is so exciting to be able to get together today and wow, to come back together, to get to hang out and worship God outside is pretty cool if you ask me! So we have a lot to be excited about which is awesome, but with all the excitement and freshness of getting together again I also think it could be easy for us to be distracted today. You know, so focused on ourselves finally being with other humans today, the new outdoor format, for those of us with a role today it’s easy to focus just on that and miss so much, also add all the emotions and questions about the Pandemic, can we keep everyone safe and healthy, what or who we can touch or not touch, should I wear a mask, what if I cough here in a minute because of my allergies, the birds flying by, the weather…how long Sam’s beard is since we have seen him last…I mean there is a lot going on right now, so I think before we get too far into today we need to slow down and pray that we could focus on what matters here today (and every day) and that God’s word would land in our hearts today (and every day).
So let’s pray for focus today, and open hearts, and minds to receive God’s word in such a way that we can apply God’s word.
If you have been watching our talks online or reading them in our blog through the Pandemic or if you can remember all the way back to early this winter I had let you know that I have been very slowly studying Psalms in my own personal time and it’s been an amazing exercise for me and today I would like to kind of bring you into that with me. We are going to do that by studying Psalm 146. I think this is the perfect Bible study for today, for the times we are living in today, and for each one of us to focus and maybe re-center on what truly matters in our lives. We will read the whole thing first, and then I will break it down into a few sections and we will talk for a bit.
Psalms 146 Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. 3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. 5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. 7 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. 8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. 9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. 10 The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord! NLT
I love this and am really excited to break this down with you today. I think there is so much here for us to look at and I will just tell you that the way I see it, there are three sections to this passage.
- The first section is verses 1 and 2 and it’s all about worship…praising the Lord.
- The second section is verses 3 and 4 and it’s a warning about who we should not put your trust or faith in.
- The third section is verse 5 to the end of the chapter and it reminds us who we should put our trust and faith in…and why.
So let’s look at each section and just talk about it a bit. The first section is all about Praising the Lord.
Psalms 146 Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. NLT
I really like the wording of these two verses in the NIV…
Psalms 146 Praise the Lord. 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. NIV
Then we move to the next section and I will just tell you that these next two sections really hit my heart for the times we are living in today. So, we start out with those two beautiful lines about worship, and praising the Lord in the depths of our soul for as long as we live, and then we see this in our next section…
Psalm 146:3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. NLT
Wow, let’s read that again…
Psalm 146:3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. NLT
How does that statement land in your heart today? Can I tell you something that really has tired me out over the course of the last few months? I will say it another way, can I tell you there is nothing that hurts my heart more than watching people put their focus, and faith in what the Psalmist says here “powerful people.” When you think of those powerful people who are they? I have watched so many people during this pandemic hurting, stressed out, and just feeling lost because they are putting their confidence in powerful people rather than in God. This could just be in life, wanting perfection from someone you love or look up to who can never give you that perfection because they are just a person. This could be in other areas, and I know just by saying this I can get everyone’s heart beating a little faster but watching the passion and focus and energy some put into politics or a political figure rather than staying focused and centered on God. Frankly, what I find most tragic happens around our churches, where people put their confidence in what they would view as the “powerful people” there…this could be a Pastor, or leader, or even just a friend or mentor, but it’s someone they prop up as “more spiritual” or someone they lean on for their relationship with God, instead of engaging their Heavenly Father for themselves…this is tragic, and frankly minimizes all that Jesus did for you and for me on the Cross. We must put our confidence and trust in God not people…because people will always let us down. I mean what if there is a Pandemic and you don’t get to see that person for say three months or so? What happens to you and your Spiritual life? What if that person messes up and hurts you or lets you down? Do you see what I’m getting at here?
I will tell you that through this Pandemic nothing has worn me out more than watching people put their confidence in powerful people. I would talk to people who very clearly were making things so much harder than they needed to be because they simply refuse to focus on God. It’s hard to watch and has become more and more of a passion of mine to help people focus, I just want to hand people God’s word and ask them to really engage it. There was a stretch through this time where my heart was so heavy as people would push in on me about politics and who was doing what next, or about how much they were struggling to engage God because of one reason or another…when all the while God just wants them to look to Him…and if you can and do, and you can humble yourself and center on Him…there is peace where stress was, joy where frustration was, and strength where fear was…and all of a sudden three months of our country being shutdown becomes less about fighting it, and more about the gift of time given to engage Him more. Which is our dream for you…that you would engage God more…that you would center on Your Heavenly Father and stop making things so much harder and more stressful than they should be. I had so many conversations with people who were afraid, and stressed out, and I just kept bringing them back to this line to try and help them see something bigger from another Psalm…that says this…
Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens, and He does as He wishes. NLT
Which was the nicest way I could possibly think to say, “Hey, stop working so hard, worrying so much, and remember God loves you and He has you, and He is running the show…not you!” So we breathe and focus on that truth. This is about God. It isn’t about us and as we learn today our trust needs to be on God who is in the heavens doing as He wishes…
Psalm 146:3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. NLT
Before we move on to the last section, I want to ask you where do you put your confidence? What are you focused on these days? If you aren’t sure, take a look at your time. Think about what thoughts fill your mind. Look at the fear, stress, or anger levels in your life. It may be a good time to recalibrate where your time and energy is going. It may be worth turning the TV off (and that is regardless of what channel you may watch) maybe take a social media break if you need…but get centered on The One who matters! The Psalmist is about to tell you why…
Psalm 146:5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. 7 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. 8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. 9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. 10 The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord! NLT
So first I want to ask you a question. Are you joyful? I mean with all that is going on can there truly be peace or joy in our lives? Even in crazy times like the ones that you or I live in today? Well, the answer is yes, but again it’s only for those who focus on and depend on God. You are not in control. God is, and fighting to control things you can’t control is an exhausting and frustrating exercise…it will leave you absolutely miserable. Do you see it? Even in what feels like a difficult or volatile time we can find peace and joy and strength in the Lord but only when we are focused on Him and allowing Him to do what He is doing whether we allow Him or not.
One thing that I think is a really important exercise as we study the Bible is to look at these moments like we see in verses 6 through verse 10 and really focus on WHO is doing what. If you have a chance later today, or if you have your Bible with you circle every reference you see to God and what He does in those 4 verses. It should really help reinforce the reality of life…that reality that it is all His and about our God in Heaven who is doing as He wishes.
He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. 7 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. 8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. 9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. 10 The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord! NLT
Do you see it? As we land the plane on this talk today and before we head back into another worship set, I would like to ask you a couple of questions.
- Do you live a life of worship? Are you living a life that is centered on God?
- Are you putting your trust in God or powerful people? What do you need to do or stop doing to put your trust and confidence in the Lord?
- Who is running the show? I will give you a hint, it isn’t you, it isn’t me, or any other person.
I would love for you to keep coming back to this passage throughout the day and week, keep reflecting on Psalm 146. Please go home read it, find one line or two that matters to you and really soak it into your heart. And remember how simple it can be when we surrender our lives to God and put our trust in Him…and how hard we make it when we put our confidence in anyone or anything else.