Sunday, June 20th, 2021
The Prince of Politics
Psalm 146 is the first of a final series of five Psalms referred to as the “Hallelujah Psalms.” Coincidentally, this is also the first of the Psalms which I set to music, back in 1993.
From this chapter onward, we put aside the laments of desperation and grief, shame and doubt, victory and defeat, and instead place our focus on praise. It's a beautiful way to end the collection, and it's also a chance to consider afresh why one should praise God.
This Psalm tells us that we should praise God because He is trustworthy, while princes of this world are not.
Here in Canada, we aren't really governed by royalty, exactly. But I have observed people placing their trust in a different, more contemporary type of prince: politics. Some even seem to become quite agitated as political leaders come and go, or as rules and freedoms change.
At risk of stating the obvious, human leaders are limited in both their power, and their insight. We should not place our hope in them. Politicians are mortals, like you and me, and they are sadly deficient when compared to the ideal that God represents!
They may be generous, or even pursue righteousness, but they are not eternal, and so can not make truly insightful judgments: the type of decisions that take the whole picture into account.
But God has always existed, and will continue to exist after we are gone. His constancy of love means every one of his decisions is just. As the Psalmist sings, he seeks to free those locked in any kind of prison, even of their own making.
Do worldly leaders truly pursue what is just? Is their primary motivation to set us free, or to make us whole? If these are the types of things they wish for, can we trust their agendas and purposes?
The Psalmist reminds us that God cares for the strangers and outcasts, the orphans and the widows, the homeless and the destitute.
It doesn't matter who is sitting on the power throne of earth. Like Jesus said, whatever we do for the least among us, we do for him. May we be his hands and his feet! Let this be our act of worship!
Praise the Lord!