Latest / Reformed Thinking / Praise the Lord, O My Soul—Trust Not in Princes (Psalm 146) | Charles Spurgeon

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Praise the Lord, O My Soul—Trust Not in Princes (Psalm 146) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a massive building
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project, there is this expectation of absolute
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stability. Oh yeah, you want solid ground?
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Right. You dig down, you pour the
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concrete, you secure the heavy steel beams, and the architect
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just points to the base and says that right there is solid rock.
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Right, because it is measurable, you know it is visible.
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Yeah, solid or not solid, it is very clear cut.
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We love that we want to know precisely what is holding up the
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roof over our heads of. Course we do.
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But then you look at where human beings actually place their
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highest trust in everyday life. We place it in institutions, in
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political leaders, in human authority.
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We really do. And suddenly that bedrock turns
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to sand. We are looking at a structural
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landscape that is quite honestly crumbling.
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Yeah, it is a fragile setup. Welcome to Reform Thinking.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into the commentary of Charles
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Spurgeon, specifically his thoughts on Psalm 146.
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It is a massive text. It really is.
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We are looking at the absolute frailty of human authority
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contrasted with the sovereignty, might, and grace of the Creator.
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OK, let's unpack this. Where are we situated
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historically and structurally when we look at this specific
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Psalm? Well, we are standing at a very
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distinct elevation. This places us squarely in the
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section known as the Hallelujahs.
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Right, which covers Psalms 146 through 150 I think.
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Spot on. Yes, 146 through 150.
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And historically, there is strong evidence that these
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specific songs were originally sung at the dedication of the
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Second Temple. Oh, wow.
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OK, so try to picture that scene for a second.
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The people of Israel had returned from a grueling,
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crushing exile in Babylon. Yeah, they had lost everything.
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Right. They had seen their previous
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temple destroyed, their nation dismantled, their identity
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shattered. And now they have rebuilt.
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They are dedicating this new structure.
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So it is a huge moment of restoration.
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It is, and Spurgeon refers to this section as the Delectable
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Mountains of the Psalms. The delectable mountains.
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I love that phrasing. What does he mean by that?
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What he means is that the grief, the tears and well, the heavy
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lamentation that the earlier songs, they give way entirely to
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praise here. So the tone just shifts
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completely. Yeah, the key is pitched high,
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the music is upon the high sounding symbols.
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It is a space where the sorrow of the past is eclipsed by
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joyful gratitude. I love that visual of the
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delectable mountains. It is like leaving the smog and
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the despair down in the valley and finally breathing clear air.
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That is a great way to put it. And right away, verse 1 does not
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offer a theological thesis. It starts with a direct,
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intensely personal command, which is praise the Lord Oh my
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soul. It is very direct.
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Yeah, what strikes me here is the massive sacred weight of the
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word Hallelujah compared to how we toss it around today.
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Oh absolutely. We use it so lightly now.
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We really do. I mean, we hear it shouted at
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sporting events. People use it as a punchline
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when they finally find their misplaced car keys or, you know,
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when a meeting ends early. Right.
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It has become a casual expression of relief.
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Exactly. But looking at the historical
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context, this word is a severe, uncompromising summons to adore
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the God of the whole earth. Yeah, Spurgeon is actually
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pretty strict about this. He notes that the careless use
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of Hallelujah is actually an aggravated instance of taking
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the name of Jehovah in vain. Wait.
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Really, he goes that far. He does because the word carries
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immense gravity. It is a command to worship, and
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you pointed out the personal nature of that command, which is
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crucial here. Right the Oh my soul part.
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Yes, the necessity of individual internal worship cannot be
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overstated. Spurgeon makes a piercing
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observation. What does he say?
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He says it is useless, even hypocritical, to exhort others
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to praise if one does not first stir up their own soul.
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Oh, that is heavy. Yeah, you cannot stand on the
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sidelines and direct the choir of creation if your own heart is
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silent. You have to arouse your
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innermost self, your central life.
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It is like a tuning fork I guess.
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You cannot tune an entire orchestra if your own instrument
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is flat. That is a perfect analogy.
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You have to vibrate at the right frequency first before you can
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expect the violins and the cellos to match you right.
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If my own soul is not actively engaged in adoration, any
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attempt to lead my family, my church, or my community in
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worship is just noise. Just noise.
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And Spurgeon goes on to frame praising God as a lifelong
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endeavor. It is a permanent state of being
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rather than just a Sunday morning activity.
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Yeah, the text brings up some staggering historical anecdotes
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about this. For instance, there's this guy,
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Mr. John Janeway. Oh yes, the account of Janeway
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is incredible, right? Here is a man lying on his
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deathbed. His physical body is actively
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shutting down and he is calling on angels to help him praise
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God, saying his own breath was not enough for the task.
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He's unbelievable. And then you have George
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Carpenter. He was a Bavarian mortar.
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Yeah, the story of Carpenter is just intense.
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When he was being burned at the stake, he promised his brethren
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that he would continue to praise God as long as he could whisper
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in the fire. Those accounts demonstrate a
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reality that transcends our normal understanding of
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suffering. They really do.
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We often think of praise as a byproduct of comfortable
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circumstances. You know when the bank account
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is full and health is good, We sing.
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Yeah, it is easy to praise when things are going your way.
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Right. But Janeway and Carpenter show
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us that true praise is an anchor in the most extreme physical
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agony. And Speaking of the sheer force
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of praise, there is a remarkable historical event mentioned in
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the text from the year 420. AD oh the Alleluia victory in
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Flintshire. Yes, the Alleluia victory.
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So the ancient Britons were facing a massive invasion from
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the armies of the picks and sacks and.
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The Britons were largely unarmed, right?
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Exactly. They were largely unarmed and
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completely terrified. They were led by two commanders,
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Germanicus and Lupus. Who operated more like Gideon
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than traditional military generals?
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Right, so as the heavily armed enemy advanced, the commanders
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ordered their little army to stand their ground and just
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shout Alleluia 3 times over. Just shout it, no weapons drawn.
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No weapons. The sound echoed through the
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mountains and the acoustic amplification in those valleys
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must have been terrifying. I can only imagine.
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The invading armies were suddenly struck with such
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overwhelming terror that they fled in total confusion.
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They dropped their weapons, leaving the Britain's masters of
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the field without a single sword being swung.
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Wow. And there is still a stone
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monument near Mold that commemorates this bloodless
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victory today. That is just an unbelievable
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image. An entire hardened army, men who
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made their living up by raiding and killing, routed by the sheer
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volume of a sacred shout. The psychological break must
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have been instantaneous. It had to be.
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I mean, they expected the clash of Shields and the scream of a
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charge and instead they were hit with a wall of holy adoration.
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It is incredible. But thinking about all this
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unmixed praise brings up a real friction point for me.
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OK, what is that? Well, why do the Psalms spend so
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much time detailing grief, betrayal, lamentation and
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enemies only to end exclusively in this high pitched praise
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that. Is a very fair question.
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Like, why not just start with the hallelujahs and skip the
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weeping? If the goal is the delectable
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mountains, why force the reader to slog through the swamps for
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145 chapters? What is fascinating here is how
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the commentator Thomas Binney, analyzes that progression.
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What does Binney say? He suggests that the trajectory
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of the Psalms perfectly reflects the Christian life.
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You do not start on the delectable mountains.
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Right, you start in the valley. Exactly.
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You start in the valley. You move through trials, through
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the dirt and the confusion. You are wrestling with enemies
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both external and internal. So the Psalms are fiercely
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realistic about human suffering. Very realistic, but the
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conclusion of that life is a state of eternal praise.
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The closing Psalms anticipate the rest of heaven.
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Ah, I see. Yeah, the warfare is done, the
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conflict is accomplished, and the final tones of the book are
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the tones of the eternal state. So it validates the suffering,
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but proves that suffering does not get the final word.
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Yes, the weeping is real, but the Hallelujah is permanent.
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OK, so if my soul is built for this kind of permanent echoing
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praise, where do I most frequently misplace my trust
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instead? Well, that is the big question.
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Right. If I am designed to look up
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toward the creator, where do I usually end up looking?
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And the answer given in the text is blunt and almost
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uncomfortable in its directness. Human leadership.
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Yes, but not your trust in Princess.
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I look at political leaders, wealthy influencers, massive
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institutions, and I think there is the bedrock, there is the
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solution to my anxiety. And that warning comes with
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severe theological backing. There is an explicit warning
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against trusting in Princess or the Son of Man.
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Why is the text so harsh on them?
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Because they are fallen, they are sprung from Adam.
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No matter how much wealth they accumulate, how many armies they
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demand, or how many laws they pass, they are inherently
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helpless. Right, they carry the exact same
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curse of sin and frailty as the lowest peasant.
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Exactly. Spurgeon writes that men are
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always too apartment to depend upon the great ones of the earth
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and forget the great one above. Which he says becomes the most
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fruitful source of disappointment.
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Yes, we project divine attributes onto men who are
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entirely incapable of bearing that weight.
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And the commentary gets incredibly vivid about the
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biological reality of human mortality.
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It does. It gets very physical.
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It points out that a leader's breath goeth forth and they
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return to the earth. The literal Hebrew concept there
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is stark. Yeah, the spirit goes one way
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and the body goes another. A human being is just a creature
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whose soul resides in their nostrils, completely dependent
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on a tiny puff of air. It's a very fragile picture.
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And when that breath leaves all their thoughts, their five year
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plans, their legislative schemes, their grand ambitions,
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they vanish into thin air that same day.
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Yeah, the very same day we. Spend billions of dollars
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electing people who are quite literally one missed heartbeat
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away from becoming fertilizer. The brevity of human influence
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is jarring, and history is littered with examples of
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misplaced trust in these Princess.
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The text gives a few brutal examples of this.
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It does look at the tragic history of the Earl of
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Strafford. Right.
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He was a minister for King Charles the First, correct?
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Yes, a brilliant, capable minister.
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And when the political heat rose and Parliament demanded
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Strafford's head, the king gave him a solemn pledge of safety.
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So the king gave his word a royal assurance that Strafford
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would not suffer in life or honor.
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Exactly. Strafford had the absolute
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guarantee of the most powerful man in the nation.
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But that guarantee did not hold up.
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Not at all Under political pressure, King Charles caved and
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signed Strafford's death warrant.
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Unbelievable. When Strafford learned of this
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absolute betrayal, he laid his hand on his heart and quoted
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this very Psalm. He said, Put not your trust in
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Princess, nor in the sons of men, for in them there is no
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salvation. He is a brutal historical lesson
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about political expediency. It really is.
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The moment a prince's own survival is threatened, your
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guarantee is worthless. And we see another lesson from a
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different area in the text. William M Tweed.
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Boss Tweed. Right.
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This man amassed millions. He literally controlled the
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entire metropolis of New York City through Tammany Hall.
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He was untouchable for a long time.
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He. Defied public sentiment.
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He bought courts of justice. He installed his own mayors and
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governors. He seemed like an untouchable
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Titan, a man who possessed actual functional invincibility.
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Yet his empire collapsed. Completely collapsed, he died in
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a cold cell in Ludlow St. jail, confessing my lice has been a
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failure in everything. There is nothing I am proud of.
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All that accumulation, all that ruthless plotting, ended in
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complete nothingness. Just nothing.
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We also see a striking historical account regarding a
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Scisian captain. Oh yeah, the guy with the water.
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Yes, in a moment of desperate thirst during a grueling
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campaign, he traded a whole city for a single draft of water.
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Created a whole. City.
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A whole city. And after he drank it, his
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thirst was quenched, his mind cleared, and he realized the
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catastrophic nature of his transaction.
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He cried out. What have I lost?
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What have I betrayed? Exactly in the moment of death
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or extreme physical crisis, all the worldly thoughts and grand
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schemes are exposed as totally fruitless.
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A man sees all those thoughts which were not spent upon God as
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a fool's thread. Yes, the things we value so
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highly in the comfort of our living rooms become utterly
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absurd when faced with mortality.
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Here's where it gets really interesting though.
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It is very easy to sit here and say do not trust politicians.
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Everyone nods along to that. It is a universal sentiment.
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Oh sure, it is easy to agree with.
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But Spurgeon points to their literal physical mortality as
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the primary reason their flesh corrupts and their thoughts
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perish. If I really internalize this,
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that all human leaders, the good ones and the bad ones, are just
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breathing dust, doesn't that just make us completely cynical?
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How do you mean? Like, why even vote?
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Why care about laws? Why engage in society at all if
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every human institution is just a fragile sand castle waiting
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for the tide? This raises an important
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question, and we must draw a strict boundary between
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respecting civic authority and placing salvific confidence in
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it. OK, clarify that for me.
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We are instructed elsewhere in Scripture, like in Romans 13,
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that authorities are instituted for the ordering of society.
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You engage in society, you vote, you advocate for just laws
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because it loves your neighbor and maintains order.
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But this Psalm is addressing where your ultimate hope and
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confidence lie. Human leaders are but a little
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heap of dust. A little heap of dust.
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Yes, trusting them for your salvation, your ultimate
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security or your inner peace is, to use Anthony Ferrandin's
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analogy, like 1 beggar asking alms of another beggar.
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Or a cripple trying to carry another cripple.
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Exactly. The total depravity and physical
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frailty of humanity is placed in sharp contrast to divine
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capability. So you do not hate the Prince?
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No, you just recognize he is dying Clay, completely incapable
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of saving your soul or fixing the fundamental brokenness of
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the world. The beggar asking a bigger
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analogy is brilliant and strips away all the pomp and
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circumstance. It really does.
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You see a king in royal robes, but underneath he's just another
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guy with empty pockets asking the universe for a handout.
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That's a great visual. Having established the dust like
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nature of Human Princess, the discussion shifts to the only
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reliable alternative. Right, the text moves to the God
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of Jacob. Yeah, the Hebrew text uses the
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word Asher which translates to a heaped up happiness, a multi
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layered blessedness for the individual who has the God of
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Jacob for help. And we are introduced to God as
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the creator of heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is
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within them. He is the keeper of truth
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forever. Yes, that means his promises
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never fail, which is the exact opposite of the broken treaties
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of royalty we saw with King Charles and the Earl of
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Strafford. The contrast is total.
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God is true to His own nature, true to His covenant, and true
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to His Son. He keeps the truth and He is the
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keeper of all that is true. So no one can charge him with
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falsehood or vacillation. Never.
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When he makes a promise, the very fabric of the cosmos
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enforces it. He is not subject to political
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pressure. He does not face midterm
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elections. Right, He does not not need to
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compromise to maintain his throne.
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His word is as solid as the bedrock you mentioned at the
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beginning. I want you to visualize this
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specific title used here, God of Jacob.
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Jacob was a wanderer. He was in exile.
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Frankly, he was a deeply. Flawed man, very flawed.
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He lied to his blind father. He schemed against his brother
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Esau. He wrestled with God in the.
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Dirt. He was a trickster.
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Think about a billionaire CEO who owns half the globe.
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A man whose name is on skyscrapers in every major city,
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but on his office door, his official title reads Friend of
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the Mailroom Clerk. That is a wild contrast.
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It highlights massive condescension and grace at all
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the titles the creator of the universe could choose.
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Why identify with Jacob? Why attach his eternal
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reputation to a guy known for being a trickster?
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You have hit on a brilliant theological truth.
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The dual titles used here, God of Jacob and Jehovah, are
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crucial. OK, why are both necessary?
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One without the other leaves our understanding incomplete.
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Jehovah designates the Creator of the cosmos, the Almighty who
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spoke galaxies into existence, who formed the Leviathan, who
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commands the stars right. But if he is only Jehovah, he
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might be too distant, too terrifyingly majestic for us to
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approach. We would cower in fear.
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That makes sense. The sheer scale would be too
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much. By adding God of Jacob, he
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reveals himself as the intimate covenant.
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Keeping God of a single flawed patriarch.
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He binds himself to his people despite their failures.
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So this guarantees absolute certainty for the believer.
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It does. He has the sovereign might to
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rule the universe and the gracious willingness to care for
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a wandering exile. It bridges the gap between
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infinite majesty and intimate mercy.
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So what does this sovereign Creator actually do for his
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people in practical terms? Well, the text gives us a very
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clear list. Because Human Princess make a
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lot of promises on the campaign trail that they fail to
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accomplish. They promise justice.
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They promise economic prosperity.
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They promise freedom. And rarely deliver.
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Right, but the text lays out a specific triad of blessings that
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God actually executes. Executing judgment for the
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oppressed, giving food to the hungry and losing the prisoners.
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And it goes on to say he opens the eyes of the blind and raises
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those who are bowed down. He actually delivers on the
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manifesto. And we see these actions
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explicitly fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus.
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Right. He didn't just talk about it.
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No, Jesus proved his divine identity by literally feeding
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thousands with a few loaves and fishes and by healing the sick.
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I think about when John the Baptist was in prison facing
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execution. He sent messengers to ask if
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Jesus was truly the Messiah. And how did Jesus respond?
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He did not send back a philosophical treatise.
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He pointed right back to these actions.
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The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are
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raised. He validated his claim to be the
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God of Jacob by performing the specific duties outlined in this
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Psalm. There is a fascinating
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historical detail regarding the physical reality of blindness in
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the ancient E mentioned here. Yes, the statistics from Cairo.
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Felix, Bovet and Bolny gathers statistics on Cairo in the 1800s
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and the numbers are terrifying. They are grim.
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They describe how walking through the streets, out of 100
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people, 20 would be completely blind, 10 would have only one
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eye and 20 more would have severely damaged vision.
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So half the population was visually compromised.
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Half the population. Ophthalmia was a massive
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scourge. You had the blinding glare of
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the sun, the constant wind blowing, a brace of sand into
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the eyes, and zero medical infrastructure to treat the
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infections. It was a brutal environment for
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eye health. Against that backdrop, the
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physical opening of eyes by Jesus was a striking, undeniable
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display of divine capability. It was not a parlor trick.
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No, it was the creator restoring broken biology.
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He was recreating ruined tissue in real time.
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Absolutely. The physical healing was an
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undeniable demonstration of authority over the fallen
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creation, and it functions on a spiritual level as well.
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He opens the mental eye closed in moral night.
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The natural human mind is entirely blind to spiritual
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truth, wandering in a desert of its own making.
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Only the Almighty God can remove the dreary effect of the fall on
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the human mind, granting the ability to see glory where
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previously there was only darkness.
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So what does this all mean for the believers?
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Daily Life John Calvin makes a staggering observation regarding
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the phrase Who giveth food to the hungry?
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Oh, Calvin's take on this is fascinating.
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He notes that God does not always pamper His people with
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abundance. Sometimes he withdraws His
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blessing. Sometimes the pantry is empty.
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If God has the sovereign might to feed the hungry, why does He
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let them get hungry in the first place?
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Does God intentionally allow intense physical affliction so
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that we recognize Him as our sole provider?
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Calvin affirms exactly that, and it is a hard truth for the
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modern mind to grasp. It really is.
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If God fed his people with constant abundance, if he
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pampered them so they never felt a pang of need, the moment
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someone faced want or famine, they would instantly despair,
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thinking God had abandoned them. So the hunger actually serves a
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purpose. Yes, God allows hunger to sucker
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us in our reduction. He brings us low so we can
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experience His provision when we have exhausted all human
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options. He finds his special clients
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among the lowest and most needy of mankind.
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It strips away our reliance on the Princess and the sons of
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men, right? When your bank account is full,
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you trust the bank. When the bank account is empty
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and the food still arrives, you know precisely who provided it.
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The reduction is necessary for the revelation of His grace.
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We move from individual physical ailments like blindness and
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hunger to the broader societal scope of God's justice.
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Which is a huge theme in the Psalms.
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The system he sets up explicitly outlines the preservation of the
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stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and simultaneously it
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details the act of turning upside down, of the way of the
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wicked. He is not just handing out
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bread, he is actively dismantling corrupt power
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structures. We see this deeply embedded in
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the Mosaic Law, right? We do.
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G Ohorn's writings on the provisions made for the
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vulnerable outline this beautifully.
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What were some of those provisions?
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For example, the second tithe in the third year was dedicated
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specifically for a feast that included Levites, strangers,
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orphans and widows. So a built in safety net.
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Yes, and there was a strict prohibition against taking a
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widow's raiment in pledge. If she owed a debt, you could
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not take her coat as collateral. And the gleanings of the harvest
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as well. Exactly.
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The gleanings of the harvest were to be left in the field.
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You did not harvest the corners of your field.
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You left that grain for the poor to gather.
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God wrote social protection into the very fabric of Israel's
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legal system because He is never strange to any of His creatures.
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Illegally mandated generosity. And on the flip side, we have
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how he deals with the wicked. There is a brilliant visual
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analogy used to describe that. It comes from a writer named
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Edlyn. In 1656.
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He talks about a Potter's clay. Yes, the Potter's wheel.
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Picture a Potter spending hours forming a vessel on the wheel.
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He gets the clay perfectly centered.
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He pulls up the walls, smooths out every tiny imperfection,
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balances the weight perfectly, and brings it to the absolute
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brink of perfection. A ton of work goes into it and.
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Then a man standing by can push it completely out of shape with
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one tiny touch of his finger, marrying all that intense labor
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in a split second. Just ruins it instantly.
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God similarly views the mature, perfectly laid plots of wicked
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men. They scheme, they build their
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empires, they buy off the judges, they hide the money in
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offshore accounts. They think they have achieved
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flawless perfection. And God blasts it put into
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pieces with a single breath. The collapse is instant and
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total if we connect us to the bigger picture.
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God's governance is not passive observation.
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He's not just sitting in heaven taking notes on human behavior,
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waiting to grade us at the end of time.
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Right, he is active. His rule is the active
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providential reversal of wicked schemes.
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The Hebrew word used for turning upside down employs bending,
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curving, making crooked, or distorting.
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So he messes with their plans. God takes the straight,
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efficient path of the wicked and makes it a crooked way, ensuring
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their plans accomplish the very things they sought to avoid.
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Think of Hammond building a gallows for Mordecai, only to be
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hanged on it himself. That is the classic example.
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God uses their own malicious intentions, their own perfectly
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centered clay pots, to accomplish His higher holy
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purposes. That sounds incredibly reassured
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during in a theological vacuum, but how does this active
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overturning of the wicked give comfort to you, the listener who
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feels entirely outmatched by corrupt systems today?
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That is the practical struggle, isn't it?
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When you look at the news, it feels like the wicked are
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winning constantly. It feels like they own the
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Potter's wheel, they own all the clay, and they are mass
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producing these vessels of corruption without any
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interference. I hear that.
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Where is the comfort when the crooked path looks incredibly
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profitable? The comfort comes from
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understanding the timeline of eternity.
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We measure success in days, months, or election cycles.
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God measures in generations and eternity.
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Oh, that is a huge perspective shift.
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This truth lifts the afflicted step by step while demonstrating
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that the highest peak of human pride is instantly dashed down
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when the breath departs. The certainty of God's eternal
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reign guarantees that justice will prevail.
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The wicked man's way is a turning of things upside down,
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morally, calling good evil and evil good.
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So the Lord makes it upside down.
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Providentially, everything goes wrong for him.
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Who goes wrong? Zion's God reigns forever,
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meaning no corrupt system, no matter how entrenched, no matter
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how heavily funded, can outlast his decree.
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Their breath will go forth, they will return to the earth, and in
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that very day their thoughts will perish, but the Lord shall
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reign forever. We have covered a massive shift
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in perspective today. We started by looking at the
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misplaced confidence in dying human leaders, men whose breath
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leaves them, returning them to dirt while their billion dollar
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schemes vanish into thin air. Yes, the Sandcastle Foundation
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we. Looked at the betrayal of the
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Earl of Strafford, the total vanity of Boss Tweed's empire,
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and the fragile biological reality of every Prince and
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politician. And then we contrasted that
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frail, crumbling foundation with the unshakable, shakeable
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assurance found in the Creator. We looked at the God of Jacob,
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who keeps truth forever, who feeds the hungry, restores sight
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to the blind, and actively bends the designs of the wicked until
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they shatter. The contrast could not be more
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vivid. On one side, you have a little
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heap of dust masquerading as a savior.
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Just a beggar asking a beggar. On the other side, you have the
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Almighty who made the heavens and the sea, who possesses
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infinite might and who actively manages the intricate affairs of
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every single human soul. We discussed how the grandest
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thoughts and schemes of powerful billionaires, emperors and
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politicians completely perish the very day their breath stops.
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They just vanish. The history books are full of
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men who thought they ruled the world, and now we barely
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remember their names. But think about this.
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What about the tiny hidden acts of faith?
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What? Do you mean?
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The whispered prayers in a hospital room, the quiet praise
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of the stranger and widow who leaves the corners of their
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field unharvested. Since God is the keeper of
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truth, forever do those seemingly insignificant moments,
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those private hallelujahs, actually outlast the greatest
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human empires. That has a fascinating.
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Thought do the whispers of the broken outlive the shouts of the
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powerful. That is something for you to
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chew on today. Thank you for joining us.