"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which make heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever."
Psalm 146:5-6
Psalm 146 is the first of the “Hallelujah Psalms,” the last five songs (146-150) in the book of Psalms. These psalms are each written for believers to praise Jehovah. Each one is worth our time to study and meditate upon. From the ten verses in Psalm 146, I am looking at verses five and six today. [1] The psalmist calls us to put our trust in the LORD and not man.
“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3).
“Princes among men often fail, but God never disappoints the one who hopes in Him” [2] (EWC).
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help.”
Often the Old Testament writers identify God as the One who cares for the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“The phrase God of Jacob recalls Israel’s early history before it became an established nation…” [3] (CSB).
“Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:6).
How does Jacob’s God help us?
“The God of Jacob is the God of the covenant, the God of wrestling prayer, the God of the tried believer; he is the only living and true God” [4] (Spurgeon).
God cared for Jacob, and He cares for those who follow his God. It’s no wonder these are “happy” people.
“Whose hope is in the LORD his God.”
God alone can provide precisely what we need, where and when we need it. We are wise when we place and keep our hope in Him. He is our “expectation,” our “hope!” [5] (see Strong’s).
“In contrast with the warning not to trust in man (v. 3), the psalmist blessed anyone who trusts in the sovereign Lord … God, his help … and hope” [6] (BKC).
When we are in trouble, our human Genesis three tendency is to find another human who can help us. Why do we forget to run to the Lord first? No one can help us as He can. No one loves or cares for us like Jesus!
“We never praise God better than by exercising faith in Him! Quiet trust is among the sweetest music that reaches the heart of God; and when we put our trust in man, we rob God of his glory; we are giving to others the confidence which belongs alone to Him” [7] (Spurgeon).
Believers, “our hope is in the Lord,” and our lives are all about living for His glory!
“We must hope in the providence of God for all we need as to this life, and in the grace of God for that which is to come” [8] (Henry).
“Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is.”
Jacob’s God is Jehovah the Creator. Being our wise and powerful Creator points to His omnipotence (He is all-powerful) and His omniscience (He is all-knowing, wise). Within the Scriptures, there is no room for any chance of evolution. For a believer to say he believes in God and evolution destroys the Bible’s clear teaching about our Creator, the One who “made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is!” God, our Maker, unquestionably blesses us!
The LORD, “This One, he explained, is the Maker of heaven and earth …; because He is the Lord of Creation, He remains faithful” [9] (BKC).
“Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 115:15).
“Which keepeth truth for ever.”
Our God is always true! He always has been and always will be true.
“God can also be trusted because He is a moral, upright God. Yahweh is unchangingly true. He champions justice for the oppressed. The God of such creating power would be a tyrant without His abundant passion for truth and justice” [10] (EWC).
God is unchanging. He is eternally true!
“He is true to his own nature, true to the relationships which he has assumed, true to his covenant, true to his Word, true to his Son. He keeps true and is the keeper of all that is true. Immutable fidelity is the character of Jehovah’s procedure. None can charge him with falsehood or vacillation” [11] (Spurgeon).
We need to pay attention to the word “forever,” in this verse, the idea is that God is true. His truthfulness is “everlasting, indefinite or unending [in the] future, [and it will last for] eternity” [12] (BDB).
“And this ‘for ever’ is opposed to that mortality and mutability of earthly princes, Psalm 146: [3 and] 4” [13] (Trapp).
Not only are people (“princes”) not to be trusted because they will fail us, but also they are mortal and will die. This God of the Bible, Jacob’s God, is the immortal truthful One we can safely trust. This so great God is where I put my hope and confidence.
Quote:
“Strength of my heart, I need not fail,
Not mind to fear but to obey,
With such a Leader, who could quail?
Thou art as Thou wert yesterday.
Strength of my heart, I rest in Thee,
Fulfill Thy purposes through me.”
― Amy Carmichael [14]
[1] Please forgive me for only using verses 5-6 because I am lifting them out of the sentence vv. 5-9. Time and space require my brevity here.
[2] EWC – David Guzik. Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[3] CSB, Kevin R. Warstler, “Psalms,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 941.
[4] TOD – C.H. Spurgeon. Treasury of David, the electronic version in eSword.
[5] HGD – James Strong. Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, the electronic version in eSword.
[6] BKC, Allen P. Ross, “Psalms,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 896.
[7] Spurgeon’s quote was borrowed from EWC, ibid.
[8] Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Ps 146:5.
[9] BKC, ibid.
[10] EWC, ibid.
[11] TOD, ibid.
[12] BDB, Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[13] EWC, ibid.
[14] Amy Carmichael’s quote downloaded: July 14, 2022. From: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/trusting-god/.