On the one hand, people have every reason to not put their trust in princes. The princes let them down over and over, again and again. You would think that people would stop doing that. Every promised wave of reforms is promising to fix all the problems that were caused by the previous wave of reforms. We are like that woman in the gospels—the more the doctors treated her, the more the problems continued (Luke 8:43). But the reason we keep resorting to these “princes” is that we assume, in our faithlessness, that we have no other options. We must either trust in this prince or that one, musn’t we? And the answer presented by this psalm is a clarion no.
Psalm 146: Put Not Your Trust in Princes
Christ Church
February 4, 2024 • Douglas Wilson • Psalm 146
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Psalms
Psalm 150: Crescendo and Conclusion
March 17, 2024 • Douglas Wilson • Psalm 150
This is a short psalm, but it is densely packed with hallelujahs. There are twelve of them here, and one hallelu-el. Together they praise Jah, the covenant God of Israel—Yahweh or Jehovah, and El, the great God Almighty. The longest stretch of words here between any two hallelujahs is four words, with all the rest of the bridges being two words. This conclusion to the Psalter is a great crescendo of praise.
Psalm 149: Songs of Triumph
March 10, 2024 • Douglas Wilson • Psalm 149
In Scripture, praise and true authority always go hand in hand. This is because it is faith that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4), and praise always overflows from the confidence of true faith. Evangelical faith sings at the dinner table, sings behind the wheel, sings at the workbench, sings while going to war, and sings in the assembly of the saints. You are the choir militant, and you have been given a new song indeed. Who is given that new song but the elect of God, the 144,000 (Rev. 14:3)?
Psalm 148: Praise That Plunges
February 25, 2024 • Douglas Wilson • Psalm 148
This is a psalm of praise in action. It begins in the highest heaven, and descends to the deeps, and invites everyone and everything in between to join in with this chorus of praise. Moreover, this wonderful psalm concludes with a promise that is attached to all heartfelt praise. God is exalted in a particular kind of praise, and He makes sure to exalt that kind of praise in turn. There is a reciprocity in praise that will usher in tremendous blessings when we come to understand it.