1 Praise the LORD.      Praise the LORD, O 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 mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
     on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
     whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
     the sea, and everything in them–
     the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
      and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
Psalm 146:1-7 (NIV) 

    The Lord alone is worthy of continuous praise. When we put too much confidence in any one person, we may find God taking that person out of our circle.     I grew up with an older brother who I adored. And when I started college, joy of joys, we were thrown into the same group of friends. I loved being known as Keith’s sister and found a certain amount of self-identity there. But at the end of our first year with our wonderful new friends, Keith was suddenly and without warning taken up to be with the Lord. …along with my confidence in who I was as his sister. Now I would have to be my own person with no crutch to lean on. It was a scary thought.     So it is with putting too much trust in any one person. Pastors come and go, or rise and fall. Husbands and wives may find themselves abandoned through death or divorce. Government leaders change and often disappoint us. God encourages us to seek good counsel, but our highest source of direction must come from our Heavenly Father, and nothing short of Him.     

     The God who made us knows us completely. He knows what we need and is able to provide for us. He knows how to separate what we want from what we need; he knows what is truly good for us. We can trust in him fully without reservation.  He alone is worthy of our praise.

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.