Psalms 146:5 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist has just warned us not to trust in princes, because that trust will end in disappointment. Now he turns us to God and tells us that real happiness belongs to the person who has the God of Jacob for help, who claims his promises, and whose hope rests in the Lord his God. Such a person is secure, because he is looking to One who cannot fail.

We should notice what kind of person God supports. He helps those who take him as their God and worship and serve him that way. He also helps those who hope in him and live in daily dependence on him, turning to him when every other support falls away. Every believer may think of him as the God of Jacob, meaning the God of the whole church, and also as his own God in a personal way.

So we should hope in God for both present and future needs. We trust his providence, his wise care over our lives, for the good things we need in this world. We also trust the grace of Christ, that is, God’s unearned kindness through Jesus, for the good things that belong to the life to come. Some understand these verses as pointing clearly to Christ, the eternal Son of God, especially when they are compared with his own works and words (Matthew 11:5, Matthew 11:6).

There are strong reasons to hope in the Lord our God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them, so all power belongs to him (Psalm 146:6). The same one who made the world is able to save it. This also fits Christ, through whom God made the world, and without whom nothing was made.

He is also perfectly faithful. He keeps truth forever, so none of his words will ever fail. Jesus is called the Amen and the faithful witness (Revelation 3:14), and in him all God’s promises are confirmed. We can rest on God’s word because he never breaks it.

He defends those who are treated unfairly. He pleads the cause of the oppressed and gives justice to them. He often does this in providence, by setting things right in this life, and he will surely do it fully on the great day of judgment. The Messiah came to rescue people from the power of Satan, the great oppressor, and judgment has been given to him as well (Jude 1:15).

He is generous to those in need. He gives food to the hungry, in the ordinary course of life and, at times, in striking ways. He fed Elijah through ravens, and Jesus fed large crowds by miracle more than once. That gives us confidence that he can also feed our souls with the bread of life.

He sets free those who are bound. The Lord loosens prisoners. He brought Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and later out of Babylon. Christ also showed this power when he opened the ears of the deaf, loosed speech for the mute, cleansed lepers, and even raised the dead. All of that encourages us to hope in him for the spiritual freedom he came to announce (Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2).

He gives sight to the blind. He has often opened the eyes of his suffering people, giving them comfort they did not see before. This points especially to Christ, since no one had ever been known to open the eyes of a man born blind until Jesus did it (John 9:32). That same power gives hope for spiritual light as well.

He also lifts up those who are bowed down. He straightens what is crooked and gives relief to those crushed by pain or burden. Jesus did this literally when he healed the woman who had been bent over for eighteen years (Luke 13:12). He still does it by his grace, giving rest to the weary and strengthening those brought low by conviction and sorrow.

The Lord loves the righteous, and that steady love gives them confidence to trust his power. Jesus showed his love for the righteous by fulfilling all righteousness. The Lord also has special care for people in need. He preserves strangers, who are often alone and without support. Many poor strangers have felt the protection of God and been kept safe by it.

He also cares for widows and orphans, those who have lost the family head and are often exposed to mistreatment. The Lord defends them and raises up help for them (Exodus 22:22, Exodus 22:23). It is worth noticing that the name of Jehovah is repeated five times in these lines, to show that Almighty God himself is at work for the relief of the oppressed.

Our Lord Jesus came into the world to help the helpless, to receive Gentiles, or outsiders, into his kingdom, and to let poor sinners, who are like fatherless children, find mercy with him (Hosea 14:3). He will also appear to destroy all who oppose his kingdom and crush his faithful people. He overturns the path of the wicked, so we should hope in him and not be afraid of an oppressor’s rage, as if that person were about to ruin us.

It is part of the Messiah’s glory that he will undo every plan of hell and earth that rises against his church. Since we have him on our side, we do not need to fear anything that can be done against us. His kingdom will also last through every change of history and on into endless eternity.

This should encourage us to trust God at all times, since the Lord will reign forever, no matter how much the powers of darkness hate it, even your God, O Zion, through all generations. Christ has been set as King on the holy hill of Zion, and his kingdom will continue in lasting glory. No invader can destroy it, and it will not pass to another ruler or another kingdom. It is a deep comfort that the Lord reigns as Zion’s God and Zion’s King, that the Messiah is head over all things for the church, and will remain so as long as the world stands.