Daily Meditations

Psalm 146:7 The hungry and oppressed There are three statements here that we have encountered many times before, concerning the compassionate and merciful character of our God: - 1.       He upholds the cause of the oppressed 2.       He gives food to the hungry 3.       He sets prisoners free. We could easily find examples of how Jesus Himself fulfilled all these qualities, indeed that is what made Him popular with the masses. And here is the first point, that in His time in Israel, it was the poor and the hungry and the oppressed, in other words the needy, who flocked to Him. The rich, well-educated and powerful in the land had no time for Him at all, nor He for them! Those who are self-sufficient and proud of their achievements and positions are highly unlikely to seek help and protection from the Lord. Listen to these words of the Lord as He spelled out His mission in Luke 4:18-19; “ The Spirit of the Lord is...

Psalm 146:6 Faithful forever The psalm-writer here ensures that we do not lose sight of exactly who this “God of Jacob” is. Amidst all the gods of the world and the religions, cults and philosophies of men, there is one over-riding and supreme Being. As the previous verse informed us, He is the God of Jacob and the One who gives blessings and hope to all who trust in Him.  The nations of the world may pursue their gods, but Israel’s God is far greater, He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. In other words, nothing compares to Him, nothing is as powerful and authoritative as Him, He is supreme, the rest are as nothing by comparison. Let us never forget this, Israel’s God is the only true God, Israel’s deliverer is the only true Saviour of the world, He rules and reigns in corridors of power that all other gods would not dare to even enter. They must all bow before Him, all rulers and leaders must bow before Him, He is the supreme One; all life, all...

Psalm 146:5 Our God is the God of Jacob The first question that this verse prompts is why does our help come from the God of Jacob, why not Abraham or Isaac or even Noah? Presumably, because the Israelites all identified with their common link to the father of all tribes and families, they were all related through Jacob who was the natural progenitor of every one of them, without Jacob’s 12 sons Israel would not exist. In addition, Jacob and Israel were synonyms, as we all know Jacob was actually renamed Israel by the Lord. After Jacob had spent the night wrestling with an unidentified man who turned out to be the Lord, the man said to him, “ Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and overcome.”  Genesis 32:22-32.  There are two lovely blessings in this verse; we are blessed if our help is the God of Jacob. If the Mighty One who wrestled and conversed with the ancient patriarch is with us, then we have no reason to fe...

Psalm 146:4 Their plans come to nothing This verse of the Psalm puts death into perspective, doesn’t it? All the princes, rulers, leaders, and heads of state who daily make the news headlines are simply going into the ground at the time of their death! The headlines will end, the images and photographs will cease, the fancy speeches and camera opportunities will terminate and that is it!  Interestingly we are told here that the moment of death is when the spirit departs. Yes, we may stop breathing, yes, our bodies may let us down and cease to function, but our spirits do not die, they depart! As we have reflected, many times, the psalmists and their contemporaries believed that Sheol was the place of departed spirits, and all men and women were destined to go there. They also came to believe that the spirits of the godly or righteous, and the wicked, were treated differently but they had no understanding of resurrection and heavenly glory, it was Jesus who made these possible and o...

Psalm 146:3 Do not put your trust in princes The news headlines, each and every day, are full of the exploits of the “princes.” In other words, the rulers and leaders of the world who make the big decisions, who represent their people and who seek solutions to the world’s problems. So, we have endless Conferences, Nato, UN, G20, G7 etc, all of which are reported in the media, and we follow the daily TV News providing coverage of their arrivals and departures from various countries around the world. Occasionally, they make decision that are ratified in some treaty or another while the signatories smile benignly at the watching members of the world’s press. Similar scenarios unfold at national and more local levels, where our elected politicians (or not) seek to appeal to their supporters and to show themselves to be caring and trustworthy leaders.  Can these men and women save us? No! Can they change the direction that the world is going? No! Will their input have eternal effects on...

Psalm 146:2 I will praise the Lord all my life! If we have been or are truly in love, and we have a husband or wife or dear friend who we adore, we may well have committed to always love them. “As long as I live, I will love you!” I can say that with some feeling to my wife and I mean it with all my heart. Such vows of commitment are not so common nowadays, people fall in and out of relationships very easily and long-term commitments and faithfulness are less common.  Have we applied long-term valuations to our relationship with our God? The writer of this Psalm is certainly doing so, He vows to praise the Lord as long as He lives. This is not a commitment that we can take lightly, when we make vows unto the Lord of heaven and earth, He expects us to honour them. Sorry to burst any bubbles but how do we know the way our circumstances will pan out? Do we know How where faith and experience will take us in the years to come? What if we become depressed and anxious in old age and find...