Ps 146:1-10, Trusting God with our life future

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https://www.logos.com/basic?utm_source=BSM&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=JulyAugust17&utm_content=BSMBasic


Psalm 146:1 (ESV) —
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Psalm 146:10c (ESV) —
10 … Praise the Lord!


• Ps 146 falls in the group of Praise psalms
• It is chiastic in structure
• The author is anonymous although, the Septuagint applies it to Haggai and also to Zechariah (not sure how that works)
• The Hebrew word for "praise the lord" is?
• Halleluiah (show in Logos)
• Occurs 23 times in the OT, all in the Psalms
• Halal, the root is connected with making a noise (both in joy and in terror)
• Yah referring to the Lord, also yhwh meaning Yahweh
• It always either begins  and/or ends a Psalm



Psalm	Begins	Middle	Ends
104			Yes
105			Yes
106	Yes		Yes
111	Yes
112	Yes
113	Yes		Yes
115			Yes
116			Yes
117			Yes
135	Yes		Yes
146	Yes		Yes
147	Yes		Yes
148	Yes		Yes
149	Yes		Yes
150	Yes		Yes



• APPLICATION: This week start and end your prayer with Hallelujah or with "praise the Lord"


Psalm 146:2 (ESV) —
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Psalm 146:10 (ESV) —
10a-b The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.


• So the first part of chiastic structure was obvious, Praise to the Lord. What is the theme of the second part of the chiastic structure?
• Vs 2 has life and being
• Vs 10 has forever and generations
• Vs 2 is looking at a man
• Vs 10 is looking at God
• The Hebrew (See in LOGOS) for "as long as I live" is three words, b hayya y, meaning my life, birth to death
• The Hebrew for "have my being" is one word, od, meaning duration, remainder
• So putting the two thoughts together
• I will praise God during my life, but God's life is forever
• I will praise God with my being, but God is praised by all generations (not just me)
• APPLICATION:
• Psalm 90:12 (ESV) — 12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
• There is wisdom in recognizing the finiteness of our days and how we might use them in service -- we can all do something


Psalm 146:3–9 (ESV) —
3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.


• The chiastic structure breaks this up into two groups, man's help and God's help, without necessary a center part of the outline (which seems to be more normal). Can you see a central theme that the whole passage points to, and then what are the bookends?
3. Man's help is useless
4. Hope in God
3. God's help is wonderful
• First, why is man's help not useful
• Political leaders can't truly save
• Political leaders can do many things, but our real needs are never satisfied
• Political leader's plans perish as soon as OR soon after they are gone
• Political leaders provide temporary, not long-lasting help
• The central focus is that we are to hope in God. What are we to hope in God? Then we will discuss why it is hard to hope in God
• He is the creator -- meaning? He literally can do anything he wants
• He keeps faith -- meaning? He is trustworthy even when we are not
• He executes justice for the oppressed -- problem?
• We don't see justice. God sees justice. His timetable is different
• He gives food to the hungry
• He sets the prisoners free
• He opens the eyes of the blind
• He lifts up the humble
• What is the problem in all five cases?
• We don't see it now
• God sees it, but his timetable is different
• Why else should we put our hope in God?
• The Lord loves us (because of Jesus' righteousness)
• The Lord upholds
• The widow -- representing? The lonely, those without a companion to love them
• The fatherless -- representing? The orphan and those missing parents who truly loved them
• IN OTHER WORDS: the Lord loves those who are unloved
• Lastly, the Lord brings the way of the wicked to ruin
• We can try to get things our way instead of waiting upon God
• God promises ruin to those who want to do it their way
• APPLICATION: So how do we apply this?
• We can begin and end our prayers with praise (not always, but sometimes)
• We can realize that our years are finite, God is infinite, and as long as we have life, we should have a plan to serve him
• We can stop trying our own schemes and truly trust and hope in God, recognizing his timeline might be different from ours