Praise God And Live It Out (Psalm 146) - Part 2
The first installment in this series covered the logic of Psalm 146. We talked about how Psalm 146 actually teaches us that praising God is contra to trusting princes. It involves God taking care of all sorts of troubled people, and as God's representatives in the world, we are to take care of those very people.
In the second and final installment on this psalm, we will look at all the different categories of people mentioned in this song, and look at practical ways we can help them as God's people. We cannot leave them to the princes, for that would steal His praise. Before jumping into the positive examples of representation, let's look at some negative cases of trusting princes.
Examples of Trusting Princes
Many churches have older saints in their midst. Depending on circumstances determined by God (death of their family members, financial disaster, inability to work, etc.), these elderly saints can have little to no income. In some cases, they are even missing meals. Sadly, a standard solution for many local churches is to sign them up for welfare and other government stimulus programs. In other words, they are derelict in their responsibility of supporting the poor and aged in their midst. God requires the elderly's family to help them first, but if for whatever reason that support is not there, then the congregation is to provide. Giving over the care of the elderly to the State is trusting in princes. Instead, we are to believe in God and trust the modes of provision He has commanded.
Trusting in the State to take care of the poor is also praising princes. God commands individuals in the covenant community to take care of the poor. To look to the State as the agency of poverty relief is not only a sin of omission on our part, it is also the approval of theft that is not allowed in God's Word. This is because these programs receive funding through unlawful taxation.
Praise God: the practical obligation
Praise in action is what we need to see. As you may have observed, there are different categories of people in Psalm 146. For example, we see mentioned the blind, the oppressed, and the prisoner. Yes, there are spiritual allusions in these categories, but they are real people too! The Church, in all its local expressions, should carry out the sacrificial-service of praise. Below is a list of ideas for us to put praise into action so that we can do justice and righteousness, which are the foundations of God's throne.
Oppressed
There are brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing legal oppression in various counties, states, and countries. Persecution against homeschooling where government school attendance is mandatory, businesses being forced to serve those who serving goes against their convictions, adopted kids being removed from the home because they are being taught Christianity, etc. The Universal and local Church should dedicate themselves to helping fund legal defenses for them, as well as intercessory prayer.
The church could provide for legal and financial costs to help persecuted Christians to leave their country.
Create a secret list of Christian families in your locale willing to take in women who are physically abused by their fathers, husbands, or boyfriends. The families should be prepared to take someone at any point during the day because extreme cases could be life-threatening and time-sensitive.
Go to your city council meetings, township hall meetings, or the nearest lesser-magistrate and teach the word of God regarding the issues discussed.
Hungry
If your local church owns a building, then have a stock of non-perishable goods that you can give to the poor. This "storehouse" ministry will take discernment and involvement with your community so that you know whether you are helping the poor or wasting resources on the lazy and idle. There are ways to go about responsible food closets.
Offer a yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily meals to families in poverty and having a hard time purchasing meals. Focused meals for specific families can create a more intimate discipleship contact than a free-for-all soup kitchen.
Prisoners
Start prison ministries. Teach the Bible, reading, math, business, entrepreneurship, and whatever else may equip them to be godly and productive individuals.
Start a theological library at the prison, as well as a library of other books that can help develop skills for the application of the theology the inmates learn.
Establish relationships with business owners to hire the men that have trained in your prison ministry. These owners could be Christian or not. If you know one of the people recently released is not trustworthy or gifted for the jobs that are open at the moment, do not recommend them.
If your community, city, county, or state has a heavy presence of the sex-trade, learn the signs of a deal/transaction (pimping). Work with your local magistrate on action steps to rescue the women during an active deal.
Blind
Helping those who are blind or losing their sight can be done by providing glasses, contacts, surgeries, and diet changes.
Help with grocery runs for those who are blind and have no immediate family to help.
Take the time to find books written in braille that could be an encouragement, or read to them. The preference will be different according to the individual.
Bowed Down
Interview the homeless in your community. Ask why the individual is homeless. Find out what their expertise is and if they are trained in a trade skill. Ask them if they are willing to work should the opportunity comes up. Publish the knowledge to those in your community.
This may be a stretch in interpretation, but it certainly fits with the command to love your neighbor. Consider caring for the elderly who are "bowed down" in age. They can be those who have lost children, either by death or abandonment, and now have no one to care for them. A way to out-serve the "princes" is to take care of the elderly, especially as more and more legislative effort is put towards euthanasia. We should relish the opportunity to serve the aged.
Sojourners
Some cities in the US will take in a large number of refugees leaving/fleeing their countries for refuge. Christians should be ready to help refugees arriving in their community by assisting them in finding employment, housing, and teaching them the local geography and layout of essential places in the city.
Startup conversational English classes and reading for foreigners. Lessons can also serve those who have gone to your country for work. You would be surprised how many come with limited English.
Open up your home to international college students. Disciple them into a Biblical worldview according to the ethical-judicial standards of God’s Word. Discuss how it affects their field(s) of study.
Widow and Fatherless
When widows in the Church cannot afford a Christian school or must work to provide for her household, then her brothers and sisters should either help with tuition or homeschool her children.
Plead outside of the abortion mills for the lives of our pre-born neighbors in the process of being assassinated, call their parents to repentance, and publicly pray imprecatory psalms against the assassins ("doctors").
Many fatherless children will not have training for life. Reach out to families in the community, such as single mothers and single foster parents, for example. Offer trade training, apprenticeships, and various forms of Christian education.
Render to God What is God
God has reserved specific tasks for Himself. He has also appointed particular ways of completing those tasks. To deny that the job is His, or change the means He has prescribed, is defrauding God of praise. Instead of recognizing God as the only One who can create and save, men attempt to hand over these abilities to a "messianic" State. You either praise God as He has instructed, or you praise another and commit idolatry. Praise God, and do not put your trust in princes.
Put legs on it
To begin with, we asked the question, “what is praise?”
In this examination of Psalm 146, we discovered that praise involves the whole man and his entire life, all the time. We are embracing a stunted view and practice of praise when we reduce praise to only prayer and singing. It is that too, but it is much more than that.
Due to the comprehensive nature of biblical praise, we should not be surprised at how full a psalm like this can be in setting forth concrete expressions of praise across so many concerns. The interior verses of Psalm 146 are no less descriptive of "praise" than Psalm 150. Psalm 146 puts legs on the concept of praise, while Psalm 150 focuses on details such as musical instruments and singing. We can even combine their teaching: let everything that hath breath praise God (Ps. 150) and observe how this is to be done (in Ps. 146).
You can download this two-part series as a PDF here.