Who is Your Hope? Psalm 146 - 10th Sunday after Pentecost

Just as I was beginning my preparations for today’s service the Friday before last, news broke of a global IT outage which impacted practically every institution which used Microsoft operating systems in their computers.

Major airlines were forced to ground all flights; 911 callscould not be completed; TV stations could not air live news. Even hospitals were affected. It was as if the Y2K bug hit us nearly 25 years later than expected.

The outage was quickly traced to a cybersecurity firm called CrowdStrike, which had issued a routine software update containing a bug which crashed all the computers. (I find it ironic all those people were stranded in airports thanks to a company called CrowdStrike).

It’s no wonder, then, that verse 3 of today’s Psalm jumped out at me that morning: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.”

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I instantly thought of these big tech CEO’s who are also some of the richest men in the world, and the fact that these men sail at the helm of a few big corporations which power our modern world. To think that civilization could collapse, not due to natural disaster, but due to the failure of some tech firm most of us have never heard of. Our modern world depends on these men like we depend on God. If you watch interviews with these men or read their social media postings, it becomes clear that they think of themselves as god-like; as if they are entitled to using their power and wealth to shape our modern world as they see fit.

Yet, tech CEO’s are not the only ones who wield such enormous power.

The Greeks and Romans had their pantheons of gods; our gods are celebrities and politicians. Greece and Rome erected magnificent temples; our temples are stadiums funded by taxpayer dollars. Jesus had the Sermon on the Mount; we have 24-hour cable news, YouTube, and Facebook. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors and pray for our enemies; our gods tell us that if it feels good, do it. Greed is good. Might makes right. The ends justify the means. Winner takes all.

Yes, these people have intelligence, they have talent, they have charisma, but they are not infallible. And they certainly aren’t God—no matter what people think of them, or what they think of themselves.

And today’s Psalm challenges us to think about what it means to live faithfully in a world where these human gods loom large.

It’s difficult to tell exactly when Psalm 146 was written, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s from later in Old Testament history, long after of a line of corrupt kings whose incompetence and depravity led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon. The most infamous of those kings is Ahab. Ironically, the 22 years of his reign was like a golden age for the Northern Kingdom of divided Israel. He successfully defended the kingdom from attacks by enemy empires which were larger and stronger than his, and in the process, he was able to expand his kingdom’s territories. But Ahab was also the most wicked man to ever rule God’s people.

I’m sure people loved and admired him for how good life had become under his reign. But that prosperity came at a price. 65 years after his death, the Northern Kingdom would be no more, in large part because Ahab’s greed and idolatry infected his people like a virus.

We are living in a kingdom of cults whose gods are celebrities, politicians, social media influencers, and billionaire CEO’s. The reason why we worship them is because we want to be them. They give us what we want. They make us feel powerful. They make us feel like we matter. They give us hope. It’s those feelings that draw us back to them, over and over again. But those feelings soon overwhelm our reason and good sense. The more we worship them, knowingly or unknowingly, the more we are transformed in their likeness. And that’s very dangerous.

The gods of this world prey upon our fears, our anger, our insecurities and our ambitions. We give them power and they give us happiness. But wealth and power without virtue is a recipe for disaster. When these people inevitably fall, you certainly don’t want to fall with them.

And I’m not saying that it’s wrong to admire people of wealth, talent, and influence. But at the end of the day, who do you trust to show you the way through this scary world? Who calms your fears? Who gives you worth and belonging? Who is your hope?

“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”

It is God “who made heaven and earth, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.”

We cling to the gods of this world for how they make us feel. God is so much more than feelings. Jesus takes our fears, our anger, our insecurities, and our ambitions and transforms them into faith, hope, and love. He shows us our self-worth in the life he gives for us. He leads us to a future built upon reconciliation, peacemaking, and justice. He gives us not the power of the sword or the gun but the power of the Spirit who made heaven and earth.

The gods of this world will come and go, and not merely because they are mortal, but because they cannot deliver on what they promise. The kingdoms they will build will rise and thrive for a while, only to crumble and fall in the end. But the Lord will reign forever, your God for all generations. 

¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
    in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
    on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed;
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;
    he upholds the orphan and the widow,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord! (NRSVue)