Psalm 146: The God of Liberation

Defender of the Oppressed

Psalm 146 is a song of praise to God because He is the liberator of the oppressed. In this world of turmoil, we often forget that God cares for us and seeks to bring justice to the marginalized and the oppressed. Thank God that He cares and is faithful to bring His justice to those who are suffering.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them —
he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Why Trust God

Why should we trust God to bring justice to the oppressed? God often seems to act too slowly, if at all. We have systems in place to do these sorts of things. In the modern day we have the politics, money, technology, military, and manpower to alleviate suffering worldwide.

This psalm challenges this notion that our greatest powers are able to save us. Human beings are ultimately unable to bring justice or salvation from suffering because we are finite creatures who will eventually die, and when we do, our plans will die with us. Those in power are subject to death just the same as anyone else. We can see this happen throughout history — a great leader rises up to liberate his peoples from oppression, but then dies (or is killed) and his plans are ended, and the people are trapped again under oppression. We are stuck in a constant battle of imperfect perpetual struggles of liberation from systems we cannot seem to beat.

God is contrasted with this cyclical system of rising and falling. God is the Creator of all things, is subject to no one — including death. YHWH is a faithful God who will bring what He promises.

God’s Promise of Liberation

So what is it that God promises to do?

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

All of those who are held down by individual turmoil and systems of oppression are promised liberation in God. God cares for the marginalized and oppressed. He tells us that He will bring justice to suffering and stop those who oppress others. He is a mighty God who is able to bring salvation from suffering.

Why Does God Seem Absent

In our world, we don’t really see God acting in a transcendental way. Injustice seems rampant, and situations like the oppression of the peoples of Palestine and Afghanistan seem unsolvable. Let us not forget that God is working and active in the world through His Church and other powers. The story of Habakkuk reminds us that God does not forget injustice, and is bringing justice in subtle ways.

Habakkuk is a prophet who cries out to God that suffering and oppression are rampant in his nation of Israel in systemic ways and asks God why He is not bringing justice to their people. God tells Habakkuk that He is working in the world actively to bring justice to the marginalized and will judge those who are oppressing through the nation of Babylon. Habakkuk is not pleased with this, as Babylon is an even greater oppressor. God responds and tells Habakkuk that He brings justice against all of those who oppress. Read Habakkuk 2 for yourself, but the list includes slavery, economic oppression, environmental exploitation, and sexual assault. God cares deeply for those who are dehumanized and exploited, and will bring justice to them.

Bringing Liberation to the Oppressed

Jesus the Messiah, who is the perfect image of the invisible God, came to this Earth to bring liberation to all of those who are oppressed. We read in Luke 4:14–28 a story of when Jesus goes to the temple and reads the following excerpt from Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

God sent Jesus to the world to bring freedom and justice to those in suffering. Throughout His ministry we see Jesus doing this, and in His death and resurrection He does something unique that no other worker of social justice can do — He liberates us from death itself. Those who follow the Way of Jesus are transformed by His Holy Spirit into new people who are liberated from chains of oppression and are called to bring liberation to those who are in suffering. Through the constant renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus we find that we are called to go out into the world and bring justice in the name of God to all those who are suffering.

God cares for the oppressed and is working to bring liberation to them all.