Our Psalm for this week is Psalm 146. In the middle of the psalm, verse 6 says that God “keeps faith forever”. The verb to keep means “to have or retain possession of” and “to continue or cause to continue in a specified condition…”.
If you’ve been in a christian community for a while, you may have been asked the question “How’s your faith?” or have heard people say statements like, “I need to work on my faith”. The reality of our faith is that it’s not something we can “work on” or be qualified in by our own effort. In Ephesians 2:8-9, we see that it is “by grace [we] have been saved through faith. And this is not [our] own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Our faith is a gift from God and the means of our salvation. It is also secure because, as this psalm states, God keeps it forever. He guards it. We can be confident of this because the character of God is constant and eternal. Another translation of verse 6 says God “remains forever faithful”. Because of His own faithfulness and the gift of faith He bestows to us - we can, like this psalm, begin and end with “Praise the Lord!” on our lips. The psalm does not shy away from recognizing deep hurts here on earth. The oppressed. The hungry. The imprisoned. The blind. The wanderers. The widows and the orphans. But not only does it recognize the sorrow of our fallen world, it declares how God, in His faithfulness, restores it. Vindicates the oppressed. Gives food to the hungry. Releases the imprisoned. Gives sight to the blind. Protects those residing outside their native land and lifts up the fatherless and the widow.
Finally verse 10, states “the Lord rules forever”. As believers in Christ, we not only have entered into the Kingdom of God and get to taste His restorative, faithful rule but because our faith is not of ourselves, but a gift from God, we no longer have to fear when faced with hurt or trials.
Praise the Lord!
-- Dana Holtkmamp