The Way of the Word: The One Hundred and Forty-Sixth Psalm – A Contemplative Reading.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
Psalm 146 is the first in a series of five psalms, also known as Hallelujah Psalms, that conclude the book of Psalms. This is a hymn composed from the words of one who has realized through his life that there is no sure hope that exists except in God who is merciful. In the psalms so far we have encountered the sorrows, humiliations, sins, doubts and fears of the author, of a people. Through these we meet God’s people in the ups and downs of their lives. We see words of defiance to God, and their faith strained in crisis. As we come to these final psalms from an experience that has gone through all of these, we find words of praise and refuge throughout the psalm. It is the experience of a life moving forward, close to God and dependent on Him.
Praise Jehovah
The words of one who has walked with God all his life, recognizing God’s intervention in victories, and trusting himself in God’s caring hands in failures, will be the words of God’s praise. This is what we see in the first two verses of the Psalm. “Praise the Lord; praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all the days of my life; I will sing praises to my God all the days of my life”. To sing praises to God all his life is not only a proclamation but also a call. The psalmist’s words, inviting his own soul to sing God’s praises, are also a call to every human being. The psalmist’s promise is to sing God’s praises all the days of his life. It is a spiritual growth that shows lives that glorify God in sufferings and tortures. May God’s praises be sung throughout life, for eternity.
Humans and God
The psalmist tells us in verses three and four of the psalm about whom to trust. “Put not your trust in kings, in the son of man, who cannot help. He returns to the dust; in that day his plans fall to dust” (vv. 3-4). Mortal is mortal. That is why true reliance should be found in the immortal, ever-living God. The psalmist also sheds light on some of the experiences that God’s chosen people lived through their history. God’s people have experienced in their lives that the days of kings who thought they were strong were numbered and their strength was insignificant. All the glory and power of man created from the dust will end once and for all. He who is formed from dust will return to dust. We must trust in the eternal God who is with us beyond the earth, and we must surrender our lives and hopes.
Why trust in God?
In verses five to nine of the Psalm, we find some answers to the questions that arise in every human heart, such as why we should trust in God and who is God. God is the protector and helper of weak and oppressed men. The Lord God created the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them. He is a God who does not forsake those who trust in Him, those who walk faithfully with Him. The experience of the fathers who remain in the memories of Israel throughout history is no different from this. That is why the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, who trusts in the Lord his God” (v. 5). What testimony do those who sing the praises of God have to give other than living in surrender to Him?
Yahweh is the God who brings justice to the oppressed, feeds the hungry, and sets the captives free. This is the life experience of Israel. A God who came as salvation and freedom in times of slavery. A god who made bread and water in the heat of the desert. A god that the blind can see. A God who walks with fallen men and lifts them up. A God who honors faithfulness, works justice, and loves the righteous. God shows mercy to the helpless stranger, a support to the helpless widow, and a help to the fatherless. At the same time, the Lord of Israel is also a just God. He is a God who punishes those who do evil. “He destroys the way of the wicked” (v. 9b). These are some of the pictures that Israel, God’s people, can look at at different moments in their history. But at the same time, more than that, we can read in these verses some spiritual experiences that any believer who goes through the experiences of a life mixed with happiness and sadness can experience in his life.
Praise be to the eternal God
This psalm, the first of the last five psalms known as Hallelujah psalms, ends with a call to praise the Lord. “The Lord reigneth forever; O Zion, thy God shall reign throughout the generations; praise the Lord” (v. 10). Having expressed his determination to praise God in his life, the psalmist here calls upon every believer to praise God as he does. The Lord, the God of Israel, endures even when powers and dominions and kings pass away. The God of Zion is a God who reigns forever, through the generations, without defect or failure. Therefore the psalm ends with the hallelujah call, an invitation to praise God.
Let us also praise the Lord
In the raw experiences of life, the Psalms take us through the ups and downs of men who are close and far from God. Psalm one hundred and forty-six is a psalm that calls upon every believer to bless the days of his life by taking refuge in the Lord, the God of Israel. Pleasing praise to God is to surrender one’s life into God’s hands and to testify with one’s life that salvation is only in Him. This psalm also calls us to surrender everything to Him, to confess that He is our Lord, when there are powerful interventions of God in our lives. Let us not trust in earth and men, in powers and kings, but in the eternal, perfecting God who sanctifies our plans. May the Lord God of Israel bless us to lift up songs of praise to God all the days of our lives, all the days of our lives, and forever.