Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord! ~ Psalm 146
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals.
You could look at this a couple ways these days. We each have a tendency not to trust the "prince" (leader, president, senator, etc) of the other party. But we very much tend to trust the ones from ours.
The other ways to look at this is also common: not to trust any leader at all. To imagine God will sweep in and save us from everything worldly leaders can't, thereby making worldly leaders useless.
But when I read this psalm again, I see the reason why God is the leader to trust more than worldly princes, and I also see what it is that's important to God.
God sets the prisoners free. God provides justice for the oppressed. God gives food to the hungry and watches over the stranger (ie: the alien, the immigrant, the refugee). God upholds the widow and the orphan.
So maybe when a "prince" shows interest in those things, maybe there is hope for them as leaders as well.
Sovereign God, open the hearts of all leaders to the plight of the outcast in this world. Amen
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