Who do we trust to live?

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❖ Audio (Message)

Who do we trust to live?

(Psalm 146)

Andy Nagahara

Today’s psalm is the 146th. We have been reading the Psalms almost every other week since the fall of 2016, and finally today we will start reading the last five psalms. First we will read the whole thing.

1 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.

3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

1. Hallelujah/Praise the LORD (1, 2)

The final five Psalms, 146 to 150, are a collection of short poems with the same characteristics as the previous collections of David’s psalms. What makes it special is that it begins and ends with Hallelujah. In the English Bible, Hallelujah is translated into English as “Praise the LORD,” so it begins with “Praise the LORD” and ends with “Praise the Lord.”

The “hallelu” part of the word hallelujah means “praise” and “jah(yah)” is a contraction of God’s name, Yahweh. In Exodus chapter 3, we read that Moses heard this name directly from God. In modern Bibles, this name is translated as “I AM WHO I AM.”

However, in Judaism, due to the commandment in the Ten Commandments that “You shall not take God’s name in vain,” they have avoided saying this word and have instead used the word Lord (Adonai). That is why Hallelujah means “Praise the Lord.”

However, “Yahweh” has a meaning that cannot be fully expressed by “Lord.” This name represents a decisive difference between Him and the other gods. “I AM” is a name that doesn’t sound like a name at all. In His exchange with Moses in the Book of Exodus, God did not call Himself Yahweh. Moses asked, “What am I to answer when the people ask me, ”What is His name?” God replied, “Tell them that He who says, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.” To me, this seems like a sarcastic remark from God that means, “There is no reason for you to call me by my name.”

Have you ever given a name to something that doesn’t have a name yet? A person’s name is usually chosen by their parents. Pets are named by their owners. Some people even name their cars. So if God has a name, who gave it to him? The Creator has no parents or masters. The Creator made “everything.

Generally speaking, having a name is a way to distinguish it from other similar entities. However, God has no such existence; he transcends all existence, created all existence, and is the Lord of all existence. As Christmas approaches, we often hear the melody of Handel’s oratorio Messiah, and I think the Hallelujah Chorus in particular is familiar to many people. When we hear the word Hallelujah, remember that it is a call to praise the Lord of all beings, who is beyond all beings and who created all beings.

2. Who do we trust to live (3-6)

Let me read verses 3-6 again.

3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

The people of Israel believed in God, who revealed himself through Moses as the Creator supreme over all things, but their trust was very fragile. That fluctuation between trust and distrust continued from the Exodus story all the way through to the complete loss of the nation.

In 1 Samuel chapter 8, we read that the people of Israel asked the prophet Samuel to appoint a king for them. Prior to this, Israel had no ruler with concentrated power like a king. However, when the people saw the surrounding countries where kings had absolute power and powerful armies, they realized that Israel also needed a king.

Let’s hear what God has to say about that request.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. (I Samuel 8:4-8)

Let’s hear what God has to say about that request.

3. The Basic Policies of Our King (7-10)

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

If we acknowledge God as our King and Lord, then our way of life as princes and princesses is to realize this basic principle in the world.

There are limits to what each of us can do, but there is much we can do to help save and liberate those who are discriminated against, abused, starved, and unjustly imprisoned. It is also our job, entrusted to us by God, to create social systems that enable people with disabilities to live without inconvenience, and that provide various safety nets for those who suddenly find themselves in financial difficulty.

At the same time, we cannot forget that we ourselves are also people who need help. As we have been taught in the message on “Theology of Interdependence and Disability,” we are not divided into either those who help or those who need help. We are all both helpers and people who need help. We are beings who can give and who need to receive.

That is the kind of society God desires. And the church is the community that God has placed in that society as a model of his ideal. There is only one church in the world that is considered the body of Christ. However, it exists as a visible community in many parts of the world. Just as there is one 7-Eleven but stores exist in different locations. But, unlike a 7-Eleven, each of the visible churches located in each area is unique.

The reason you are here is because yourchurch, as part of the Body of Christ, needs you and you need yourchurch.

(Prayer) God, we thank you for being our King and Lord.
We walk in trust, not in created things, but in you, the Creator.
Speak to our hearts from time to time and tell us your will.
Teach us what to do and what not to do and empower us to do it.
We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Summary

If you trust in God, you will not be disappointed. This does not mean that we should never trust people at all, but rather that we should know that humans have their limitations, no matter how reliable they may seem. Knowing this, we are able to forgive those who fail to meet our expectations. To trust in God means to live as one who does God’s will. God’s will is to love, to save, and to help.

For Discussion

What does the word “Hallelujah” mean?
Why are those who trust in God blessed?