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.

The apostle John tells us not to love this world or the things of this world because this world and all of its desires are going to pass away. When we fail to keep our eyes on things above we begin to fret over the things of this world. When we want to measure how well we are doing we (too often) begin to count the things of this world. When we evaluate ourselves, we compare against the things of this world. The Psalmist tells us not to put our trust in mortal men because they return to the ground. What or who do we trust? Do we trust our financial wealth? God can remove that in a moment. Do we trust our physical strength or our mental ability? We have all seen this taken in an instant by an accident or a stroke. Do we trust our education? The most brilliant doctor can be reduced to a child by age or by many things beyond one’s own control. Then we begin to think that our accomplishments cannot be taken away; so we put our trust in our works. Turn on the TV and see how many coaches were considered as “greats” yesterday and are “has been” and unemployed today. Even our works don’t endure.

The point of all this is that we put our trust in God and in God alone. He is our only source of real strength. He alone can give us the peace of mind that we all desire so badly. There is none other who can supply our every need and do it in a way that makes us better for having faced hardship.

So the next time we begin to think we are righteous and look down on someone who does not live up to our righteousness; we need to remember to not trust in ourselves or judge others. When we are down and out and feel that we are miserable failures and want to quit, we need to remember Moses. After being reduced from the prince-heir of Egypt to a lowly shepherd and living in the outdoors for 40 years, he was called by God to lead his people from their bondage. When we trust God he will lead us and use us.

O God, I put my trust in you. I know that on my own I have failed to live in your image. I thank you that you have forgiven me in Jesus and have given me the assurance thru your faithful word that I can be with you in eternity. I thank you and praise you for taking care of my every need in this life. I confess that I often don’t understand but I trust you. I pray in Christ’s name.

May God bless each of us as we trust him and obey him.