Living in the Spirit

September 21, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

Do not put your trust in princes,
   in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
   on that very day their plans perish.

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
   who executes justice for the oppressed;
   who gives food to the hungry. –Psalm 146:1-7

I wonder if Paul had this Psalm in mind when he wrote the following snippet in this letter to the Corinthians:

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

I spend much time in advocacy work with people from varying backgrounds and opinions on how things should be done and who should do them. Advocates test the trust of leaders constantly. Decisions are often made on political expediency rather than striving for common ground in search of the Common Good.  This Psalm helps advocates to find the Higher Ground of their work while understanding that we and the people we advocate for and the those we advocate to are treasures in clay jars. We indeed must keep our hope in the Lord as we strive to execute justice for the oppressed and find food for the hungry.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being an ever-present help in times of trouble. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.