1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
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.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
This psalm comes to us immediately after a national election day. Last week the votes were received and by now they should all be tallied, and we know who the next president of the United States will be along with congress members, Senators and a slew of other officers. The rhetoric of elections is often overheated, and this year has been no exception. The psalmist urges the follower of God to bit of circumspection. He not tells us not to trust in the prince or the princess, the ruler of this time and place. They too are mortal. Their breath departs and they come to nothing.
The psalmist wisely exhorts us to trust in God and not those whom we have elected. The Christian is therefore somewhat detached from the political results. It is part of God’s governance of this world, but it is not the whole of governance. Yes, we vote, we engage in the processes of this world, and we work for what is right and good for all. But we also know that such efforts are at best helpful, but not salvific. They don’t ultimately solve the problem. That belongs to God alone. We can make a fairer economic system or we can improve our health care, but it is God who creates heaven and who raises the dead and who rights every wrong.