God is Our Help

God is worthy of our praise because He can be relied upon at all times to help and lift us up. Psalm 146 describes some of the ways in which He does this.

Download the God is Our Help mp3

Psalm 146:1-10

The section of Psalms we’ll be addressing is filled with calls to praise the Lord
We should start with the definition of “praise”
Which is to ascribe worth to God and to celebrate His worth
And this passage begins with just that

But Psalm 146 also turns our attention to trust and help
We must trust the Lord – for He is our help
And our only help
As verse 3 highlights the futility of trusting in man
While verse 5 tells of the happiness that is found in reliance upon God for help

That’s why “God is Our Help” is our theme today
And we’ll be discussing Psalm 146

Praise for the Lord
With and for the entirety of our lives begins this reading…

Psalm 146:1-2

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

With everything we have, we must shed light on God’s worth
And we must do this while we have breath to do so
Our songs must be of praise to Him
For our time on earth is short and everyone must know

We are motivated to celebrate Him in this way because of who He is
And once we know who He is
From passages like this and others
We do so

But there are alternatives…

Psalm 146:3-5

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

Don’t trust in princes or kings or other leaders
Don’t trust in man, it says
This is not because there is no men that are trustworthy
Certainly, some can be
But this focuses our attention higher
On the One who provides the character for man to be trustworthy
In man there is no help
People die and are buried
Then all of their plans and helps are gone
But God is eternal
He is 100% trustworthy
And has all power

That is why those who have hope in Him are happy
God does not let us down
He cannot let us down

Men may do their best
Even relying on His power to help them
But they all let us down
We let ourselves down
And we let others down
So trust in God, who will not

Why?

Psalm 146:6

6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

He is our help because He is our Creator
He made everything and everyone who needs help
Everything and everyone in heaven
Everything and everyone on earth
Everything and everyone in the sea
And He can be trusted to do what He says

He sustains our lives
He knows how weak we are
He knows how weak our leaders are
He knows how powerless we are to provide each other help
Unless of course He intervenes to give us the power to do it

There is no more security than in knowing we can do nothing
Without Him
And we can look to no other but Him for help

He does particular, specific things for us…

Psalm 146:7-9

7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:

8 The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:

9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

God does right for those who have been hurt
The oppressed are safe in His hands
He gives food to the hungry
He has the power to provide
And He also has the power to free the imprisoned
Both in spiritual and physical prison

He makes the blind to see again
For He created our eyes
He helps those who are in trouble
Those who are weighed down by anything in life
He loves those who do right

He protects strangers in strange countries
He cares for widows and orphans
And He destroys the wicked

He does right
All that is right to be done in the world – He does

This is why we look above, beyond men
For He is our help…

Psalm 146:10

10 The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

God is the King forever
His rule will never come to an end
That means He is our help forever
This is why He ought to be praised
For His great worth
Celebrate Him