Losing Control

Psalm 146

INTRODUCTION

I came across some interesting prayers last week. They were all prayers of children. Here is one from Debbie – age 7: Dear God: Please send a new baby for Mommy. The baby you sent last week cries too much. From Angela, age 8: Dear God, this is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains? So far, he doesn’t have any. From Lois, age 9: Dear God: Please help me in school. I need help with spelling, adding, subtracting, science, reading, history, geography, and writing. I don’t need help in anything else.

Most of us delight in children's prayers. They are not afraid to say what is on their minds to God and most people. They are very uninhibited when it comes to their words or in asking anything of God. Children's prayers are honest and sincere acknowledgments of how great God is. Unfortunately, as adults, our prayers become more about us.

Have you noticed how often most of our prayers are “asking” prayers? While it is true that we are encouraged to ask of God, there is more to prayer than just asking for things. If you look at the Book of Psalms, many of these prayers and hymns are songs of praise. The first words of the last psalm, Psalm 150, is “Praise the Lord.” The first words of Psalm 149 are “Praise the Lord.” The first words of Psalm 148 are “Praise the Lord.” The first words of Psalm 147 are “Praise the Lord.” The first words of Psalm 146 are “Praise the Lord.” Well – you get the point. The last five psalms may constitute the final doxology of praise.

If we’re honest, we would all admit we don’t spend enough time praising God. Now, praising God is not like thanking God. When you thank God, it is a prayer of thanking God for the specific things he has done. Giving praise to God is more about God who He is. Praising God has a specific message, which is a life-changing truth.

Psalm 146 ESV

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. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

SCRIPTURAL ANALYSIS

Psalm 146 is the first of five psalms that comprise the concluding collection of Psalms. The last five psalms are often referred to as the hallelujah psalms. The collection, often termed the “Final Hallel” or the Final Hallelujah, consists of five hymns. Praise for the greatness and the grace of God is the subject of this psalm.

VERSES 1-2

Praise the Lord is actually the familiar Hebrew phrase, hallelujah. The last five psalms each begin and end with Hallelujah! The psalmist committed to praise the Lord every day of his life. What the psalmist preached, he practiced. He would not dare call upon us to praise the Lord without himself having first done so. He resolves that while I live, I will praise the Lord.

His hallelujahs are not empty-headed repetitions triggered by certain kinds of atmosphere or music. Nor are they songs for the good days only, when he is in the mood. He has learned to look for the facts behind the appearances and to see the Lord at work in everything: the sun that is always shining, even if it is behind the clouds, can’t be seen, or on the other side of the world.

VERSES 3-4

The fleeting nature of life affects everyone and every man. Eventually, everyone returns to the ground. Kings and leaders suffer the same fate as peasants and slaves. Should this psalm have been written by David, this warning comes from a prince himself. Even the best of people are not adequate help in times of hardship.

Putting one’s trust in people eventually leads to disappointment. All people, even those with power and influence, are mortal. Their ability to help is limited in both time and degree. Situations will arise where their power is insufficient. And their influence ends with their death.

Israel was frequently guilty of trusting those nations around her instead of trusting God. This is a sober warning that we should never put too much hope in human institutions, even if they were instituted originally by God.

VERSES 5-9

After acknowledging that all human power is frail and temporary, the psalmist places the focus on God. The language in Psalm 146 parallels that of Isaiah 49 and 61, two texts that refer specifically to God’s work of bringing his people out of Babylonian captivity and providing sight to the blind. The latter act refers not to healing per se but to freeing those once in darkness so that they might see light again. The fall of Jerusalem in 587 b.c. precipitated the greatest theological crisis Israel experienced. There emerged two theological explanations among the Israelites. They were saying that either God was weaker than the gods of the Babylonians or he did not care about his people. They were blind to the truth of who God is. There are other instances of God’s “opening” the eyes of the blind, and here, the Psalmist is attempting to do the same.

The God of Jacob is a favorite expression of Israel because of God’s provisions for Jacob and how God walked him through difficult seasons. The God of Jacob is a favorite expression of the latter psalms. This is a reminder of the history of God and his people in the Old Testament. We know what God did for Jacob and we know what God has done for his people through the centuries. The psalmist instructed the congregation to put their trust in the One who is infinitely more powerful than mortal man. In other words, God has a track record in which you can find hope.

The psalmist says that God is the source of our salvation. When he says that God opens the eyes of the blind, he means that literally and figuratively. God opens physically blinded eyes and spiritually blinded eyes. On numerous occasions in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus gave sight to the physically blind and discernment to the spiritually blind.

These verses contain two themes: the power of God (v. 6) and the provisions of God (vv. 7–9). The Psalmist's message is contrary to the famous adage, “God helps those who help themselves,” God helps those who admit they cannot help themselves. God turns the world system upside down: in his economy, princes are devalued, and the marginalized in society are given value. God is faithful, and God provides.

VERSE 10

The psalmist concludes by praising God because He is in control and His reign is eternal. The Lord reigns forever, your God, for all generations. The character of his kingship is to care for the powerless in society, a responsibility that human authorities generally fail to deliver.

TODAY’S KEY TRUTH

Praising God is Recognizing That God is in Control

APPLICATION

The Old Testament reminds us to show our appreciation to God. Life as we know it now does not go on forever. It is our moral duty to praise God while we have life.

There is a difference between thanking God and praising God. Thanking God is about being grateful for what God has done for us. Giving thanks to God is a form of giving or returning gratitude to the Lord. For example, if someone gives you something, your return is an appreciation by simply saying, “Thank you, or I thank you for this.”

The Bible is filled with commands to give thanks to God. Most verses go on to list reasons why we should thank Him, such as “His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:3), “He is good” (Psalm 118:29), and “His mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 100:5). Thanksgiving and praise always go together. Feeling and expressing appreciation is good for us. Like any wise father, God wants us to learn to be thankful for all the gifts He has given us. It is in our best interest to be reminded that everything we have is a gift from Him. Without gratitude, we become arrogant and self-centered. We begin to believe that we have achieved everything on our own. Thankfulness keeps our hearts in the right relationship with the Giver of all good gifts.

Praising the Lord, on the other hand, is even higher and more meaningful than thanking Him. Praising God is different.

Webster defines the word praise as saying good things about, and it is synonymous with words such as admire, commend, honor, and worship. A definition of Christian praise is the joyful adoring of God, the celebration of His goodness and grace. This simply implies that the act of praising is rightfully due to God alone. Praising God is about recognizing who God truly is. It’s not about what He does but who He is.

There are multiple words in Hebrew and Greek translated as “praise” in our English Bibles. There are three Hebrew words found in the Bible that explain praise in nuance. These words are yadah, which means "praise, confess," zamar, which means "sing praise," and halal, which means "to praise, honor, or commend." All three terms indicate giving honor to one who is deserving of acclamations. In essence, to praise is to express adoration and admiration. We praise the Lord for His traits, His works, and His character. Praise includes the acts of blessing, commending, honoring, thanking, celebrating, and rejoicing. We praise the Lord because He is worthy of all our praise. He is worthy of all adoration and approval.

When we praise the Lord, we praise Him for who He is and what He’s done apart from what He’s done for us. For example, we can praise Jesus for His redeeming death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension to the heavens. We can praise Him as the One seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority, and as the One who is the Head over all things to the church.

These are all marvelous aspects of Christ, apart from any benefit to us. Regardless of our situation or what we’re going through, Christ is marvelous and glorious. He is one who is worthy to be praised.

We praise God because His character is wonderful and loving. One of the main reasons God is wonderful and loving is because we can trust Him. “In God we trust” is what it says about the money we carry in our wallets. But we struggle trusting God. We’d rather trust the money those words are printed upon. But money can’t save us. Just ask someone who has become unemployed and who finds the money disappearing from savings accounts. We like to trust technology. All the gadgets we have are nice, but they are not dependable. Just ask someone whose mobile device is glitching or crashing. We like to trust power and military might. But remember that our nation was formed by revolutionaries who fought what was, at that time, the greatest military force in the world. God is worthy of praise because he is trustworthy.

We praise God because He is eternal and sovereign. We praise God because He is in control.

Praising God is Recognizing That God is in Control

CONCLUSION

Perhaps the most important lesson from this section of Psalm is that God is in control. The sure lesson for us is that we must continue to follow God’s known will when we cannot see what is unknown. Peace is found in trusting God and His will for our lives.

Later in the Old Testament, Habakkuk struggles to understand what is going on around him. Habakkuk said, “Lord, please tell me what you’re doing.” God said, “No, I’m not going to tell you what I’m doing, Habakkuk, because if I told you what I was doing, you wouldn’t believe it.” If God today told us what he is doing in the world and in and around us, we wouldn’t believe it. His plan is so much grander than anything we could see or believe.

Do we think God has given up, God has abdicated, and God has left the throne? He hasn’t. He’s still on the throne, and those of us who know him should put our trust in Him and Him alone. I don’t put my trust in Washington regardless of who is or who isn’t in power. I don’t put my trust in the United Nations. I definitely know better than to put my trust in myself. I don’t trust money as it can be gone tomorrow. I’ve learned through trials and many errors that only God is the one to put my trust in because God is the only one in control. When the world and everything around us fall and fail and crumble, only God will be there.

Praising God is Recognizing That God is in Control

We can rest in the reality that God is in control. God is ultimately in control of all events around us, including our lives. No matter how powerful they look, human power structures are not powerful enough to thwart God’s intention to fulfill his ultimate desires and plans. No man, regardless of the position he holds by either force, wealth, or election, is in control.

When you think you control something, you’re actually lying to yourself. You’re believing in an illusion. It’s incredible how often we think we’re in control of something when really we aren’t. Human control is an illusion. We constantly make plans that never actually turn out the way we envisioned. ‘If you want to make God laugh, make a plan,’ an old saying goes. You and I aren’t in control of anything. We have to stop lying to ourselves. Human control is an illusion.

But here’s the good news. When you release yourself from the lie, from the illusion of being in control, you find true freedom. The weight and burden of thinking and falsely believing you are in control is no longer yours. There’s freedom in knowing that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God is in control and that an emotionally unstable, self-centered mortal human like yourself isn't. There’s absolute freedom in that acknowledgment. The chaos in the world, the chaos that is Washington and Raleigh, the chaos that might be your life right now, is God’s to control, not yours. Let that weight go. Exhale that burden. God is in control. Whether you’re lying to yourself or not, God is in control. Praise Him because the one in control loves you and is full of mercy and grace. God is in control, and God is good.

Praising God is Recognizing That God is in Control

Our suffering is not foreign to God. Jesus’ suffering in his humanity enables him to empathize with us directly in the midst of our pain. In that empathy, we can affirm God’s love for us, which makes God being in control produce even more peace in our lives. Jesus willingly went to the cross to meet our deepest need for forgiveness of sin so that we could enter the blessed existence of the kingdom of God. It is there that we enter into the peace of God.

I might not be at a place where I am able to thank God for my present circumstances, but I can still praise God for who He is. When we praise God, we focus on who God is: He is holy, loving, faithful, righteous, and forgiving. Praise is not about what we feel because sometimes we don’t feel like praising. Instead, praise is about God being in control, and He loves us. God’s character isn’t changed by the circumstances of our lives. We can praise Him in the storms of life because praising God is recognizing that God is in control.

In 2 Chronicles 20, the Israelites were under tremendous pressure. In verse 12, King Jehoshaphat cried to God, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” He went to the right place for help, his eyes yearning, pleading with the LORD. As the Israelites marched to face a massive enemy, without having any idea what God was already accomplishing for them, they repeated, “Give praise to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever” (verse 21). Over and over, they proclaimed that God’s love endures forever. The only weapon they raised was praise, and God soundly defeated the enemy.

What a difference praise would make in our lives if, when troubles come, we would seek the LORD and then praise Him for who He is. How many of our enemies would be defeated simply by our praise? Let go of the myth that you’re in control, and let praise flow from your life because God, the creator of all things, is in control.

Praising God is Recognizing That God is in Control