WORSHIP AND JUSTICE
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Mighty God, receive my prayer of praise and thanksgiving as I come to you, awed by your power to love and to save.
Read PSALM 146
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
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 forever.
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 forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘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?‘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 forever, 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 compas- sion and justice. Only then can God truly be said to reign in Zion.
Apply
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?
Closing prayer
Father, help me to make heartfelt gratitude to you a constant expres- sion in my life. Help me to relate to you and then to my fellow man in ways that draw them to you.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.