Slices
Prepare
‘I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ’ (Mahatma Gandhi). How does this statement speak to you?
Bible passage
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them –
he remains faithful for ever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
8 the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Explore
‘Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead’ (James 2:17). This statement may seem to be an odd connection with this psalm, but the psalm has the same logic. It begins with a very familiar and general exclamation: ‘Hallelujah!’ Straight away, the psalmist makes a personal response to the truth: he summons his soul to praise the Lord, and declares that he will praise him through the whole of his life. He is going to act on what he knows to be true.
There are many reasons to praise the Lord, some of which are listed in verses 6 to 9. Our God is so different from other rulers (v 3). But all these qualities of God are not merely to be admired. They require action. The statement in the final verse, ‘The Lord reigns for ever, your God, O Zion, for all generations’, comes with the implication that Zion (Jerusalem) also needs to be a place where the cause of the oppressed is upheld, the hungry are fed, those who are bowed down are lifted up, and the foreigner and widow are treated with compassion and justice. Only then can God truly be said to reign in Zion.
Respond
Talk to God about your worship life. Does praise rise readily from your heart? Is your worship evident in how you live as well as what you say or sing?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 20,21; Luke 20
Pray for Scripture Union
SU Hungary’s online youth Bible-reading website ‘On the road’ was launched in January. Pray that it will encourage young people to read the Bible regularly. Pray for plans to launch an app later this year and for the necessary funding.
