The Danger of Election time - Psalm 146

While it is right for Christians, indeed everyone, to take a real interest in the election of our Government for the next 5 years there is a real danger of us thinking that as long as the party we support gets in then the country will be better off. It is clear from the Bible that authorities are established by God and are therefore good for us (Romans 13, Colossians 1:16) but Psalm 146 reminds us that we would be foolish to put our trust in them to sort the country out and to enact the policies that will turn the country into something that resembles the new creation that Christians can look forward to.


Psalm 146

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

2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,

8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

Do we "put our trust in princes", Prime Ministers, Ministers or MPs? If we do, as I am often tempted, then verse 3 reminds us that they are mere "mortal men", they will soon return to the ground and they cannot save - quite simply, we expect too much of our leaders. Whether it be Gordon Brown, David Cameron or even the fresh faced Nick Clegg, we would be foolish to put our trust in any of them. Ultimately "Their plans come to nothing". This is quite a challenge to my thinking.

Instead of us putting our hope in Gordon Brown to sort out our broken politics, David Cameron to sort out our broken society or Nick Clegg to sort out our broken economy we are to have our hope only in God v5 - it is he who brings blessing not our leaders.

After all, it is He who made the "heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them", it is he who "upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry", it is He who "gives sight to the blind", it is he who "lifts up those who are bowed down", it is He who "watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow" and it is He who "frustrates the ways of the wicked". It is He who "reigns forever". Compared to a God like this, it's pretty obvious that our hope is misplaced if it is just in our politicians.

So while our politicians "cannot save" v3, we have a God who can, who has. All mankind is in a desperate situation, we have rejected the authority of our creator God of the Universe and decided instead to put our trust in the things of this world. And yet, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God" v5. God gave his one and only Son to die for us so that he could do what mere mortal simply cannot, save us.

Psalm 146 is very clear, I must be careful where I put my trust.