Thursday Psalms: God Sets You Free!

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

Today's psalm is Psalm 146, most certainly a psalm of praise to and for the Lord.  Besides praising the Lord for all His power & blessings, there are other uplifting and important encouragements for you in this psalm.  Verses 3-5 remind us to trust in God rather than man or any earthly thing.  Verse six points us to God the Creator; we should always praise and trust Him above all things.  Verses 8 & 9 remind us of God's love & care for all people, including widows, anyone fatherless, travelers, anyone blinded in sight or by sin, and those who are bowed down.  These are all great & valuable gifts from this psalm, but let's focus on perhaps the best action of all, seen in verse 7b.

Psalm  146

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! 

You, I and all people are prisoners of sin; we can't stop sinning, we can't avoid temptations longer than perhaps for a minute or two, we just can't stop.  We're both sinful by our natures, and we sin by our actions.  The devil makes us prisoners by tempting us to sin, and we can't avoid giving in.  By ourselves, we're simply and truly hopeless.  

But God loves you so much, He just can't leave you a prisoner in your hopeless sin!  God tells you in John 3:16 that He loved the world (including you!) so much that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will NOT die, but have everlasting life!  Confess your sins and the Lord sets you free in His forgiveness!  

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS    Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188 

We are Pilgrims with a Purpose:  

     Sharing God’s Love & Mercy with Each Other & the World.

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Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is a stronghold in times of trouble."  Psalm 9:9