by Jim Vitale
Do not put your trust in princes.
If you’re anything like me, you’re completely burned out on election information. Months (perhaps years) of political campaigning has left me fatigued and weary of all the promises and debating and mud-slinging. For the past few months, the commercials and lawn signs and mailings have flooded us with arguments in favor of or opposed to one candidate or the other. And both sides have promised to “save America” from the other.
Of all the dubious claims and ponderous promises that have been flying around, this is the one that troubles me the most. If any political candidate—scratch that—if any human being offers us salvation, we should be immediately concerned. And Psalm 146 tells us exactly why.
Do not put your trust in princes.
That is the warning from Psalm 146. “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.” The Hebrew here has a beautiful turn of phrase here that we miss in our English translation. The word for “mortal” is “ben adam” which means “Sons of Adam.” And the word for “earth” is the Hebrew word “adamah” which means “soil,” or “dirt.” Do not put your trust in sons of Adam because they return to adamah. Essentially—don’t put your hope in humans because sooner or later they will be dead and dirt.
The psalmist warns against trusting in princes because they are mortal. Our Christian theology would take that one step further, arguing that no human being, no matter how good or righteous, is truly trustworthy. All humans break promises, without exception. None of us are perfect because all of us sin and fall short of the glory of God. So why would we trust a human being to save us? That, as the psalmist would tell us, would only lead to disappointment. There is only trustworthy promise-maker and that is God alone.
Do not put your trust in princes,
the psalmist writes, because they will ultimately fail us. No, instead put your trust in God. Here the psalmist turns away from talking about the failings of mortal rulers to talking about the trustworthiness of God. In this political season it’s hard not to hear it like a political ad, detailing all of God’s virtues. But unlike earthly candidates, God’s promises are trustworthy and true—sure to be kept.
“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,” the psalmist says, “who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.” God’s first claim to trustworthiness is that God created the universe. No mortal politician can claim that! But the psalmist continues with a list of still more amazing things: “God executes justice for the oppressed; God gives food to the hungry; God sets the prisoners free; God opens the eyes of the blind; God lifts up those who are bowed down; God watches over the strangers; God upholds the orphan and the widow; God brings the wicked to ruin.” Let’s see a president try to do all that in four years!
Psalm 146 makes it perfectly clear that one and only one deserves our trust: God.
Do not put your trust in princes.
Full disclosure: I wrote this weeks ago, before voting even started. And I did it confidently knowing the truth that whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris gets elected, neither of them can keep the promise to save America, or any human being for that matter. Neither of them, nor any other politician, can do for us what they have promised to do. Our freedom, our well-being, our thriving, our forgiveness, our redemption, our resurrection—that can only be achieved by God in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Is this election important? Absolutely. Is it a defining moment for our country? Probably. Did I vote for a particular candidate? I did. But I voted and wrote this knowing that no matter who is elected, my trust, my hope, my faith, my future is in Jesus Christ and not any mortal prince. Their terms are limited, not only by the constitution of the United States of America, but by the realities of human mortality. Whether they were the best president in history or the worst, sooner or later, they’ll be dead and dirt.
Psalm 146, however, ends with this reminder of the good news: The Lord will reign forever. Mortal princes make their paper promises and then leave us disappointed. But the Lord our God, who keeps God’s promises, isn’t going anywhere. God’s promises are trustworthy and true yesterday, today, and forever.
So do not put your trust in princes, but in the Lord who reigns forever.
These political seasons leave me feeling melancholy and grieved. They do not really fill me with hope for humanity. But that’s okay because Psalm 146 reminds me that my hope is not in humanity. It is in Jesus.
I find it interesting that this psalm begins and ends with “Hallelujah”. Regardless of what this psalmist may be facing (we have no idea who wrote it or what they were going through at the time), this psalmist chooses to praise God.
My friends, as believers who put their trust in Jesus, we can join the psalmist in this joyful “hallelujah.” Even in the midst of melancholy and grief, even in the midst of mixed feelings about our country, even in the midst of fears for the future, we can shout with joyful confidence a loud “hallelujah.” Because our trust is not in America. Our salvation is not in presidents. Our future does not belong to politicians. All these things belong to God who in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit creates us, redeems us, and sustains us—not because of our worthiness—but because of God’s grace, mercy, and love.
Praise be to that God, who reigns forever.
Hallelujah!