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<p>The psalmist, having cautioned us not to trust in princes (because, if we do, we shall be miserably disappointed), here encourages us to put our confidence in God, because, if we do so, we shall be happily secured: <i>Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help</i>, that has an interest in his attributes and promises, and has them engaged for him, and <i>whose hope is in the Lord his God</i>.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. Let us take a view of the character here given of those whom God will uphold. Those shall have God for their help, 1. Who take him for their God, and serve and worship him accordingly. 2. Who have their hope in him, and live a life of dependence upon him, who have good thoughts of him, and encourage themselves in him, when all other supports fail. Every believer may look upon him as the God of Jacob, of the church in general, and therefore may expect relief from him, in reference to public distresses, and as his God in particular, and therefore may depend upon him in all personal wants and straits. We must hope, (1.) In the providence of God for all the good things we need, which relate to the life that now is. (2.) In the grace of Christ for all the good things which relate to the life that is to come. To this especially the learned Dr. Hammond refers this and the following verses, looking upon the latter part of this psalm to have a most visible remarkable aspect towards the eternal Son of God in his incarnation. He quotes one of the rabbies, who says of <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.10" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.10">Ps. 146:10</a> that it belongs to the days of the Messiah. And that it does so he thinks will appear by comparing <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.7,Ps.146.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.7,Ps.146.8"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.7">Ps. 146:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.8">8</span></a>, with the characters Christ gives of the Messiah (<a class="bibleref" title="Matt.11.5,Matt.11.6" href="/passage/?search=Matt.11.5,Matt.11.6"><span class="bibleref" title="Matt.11.5">Matt. 11:5</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Matt.11.6">6</span></a>), <i>The blind receive their sight, the lame walk</i>; and the closing words there, <i>Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me</i>, he thinks may very well be supposed to refer to <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.5" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.5">Ps. 146:5</a>. <i>Happy is the man that hopes in the Lord his God</i>, and who is not offended in him.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. Let us take a view of the great encouragements here given us to hope in <i>the Lord our God</i>. 1. He is the <i>Maker of the world</i>, and therefore has all power in himself, and the command of the powers of all the creatures, which, being derived from him, depend upon him (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.6" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.6">Ps. 146:6</a>): <i>He made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is</i>, and therefore his arm is not shortened, that it cannot save. It is very applicable to Christ, by whom God made the world, and <i>without whom was not any thing made that was made</i>. It is a great support to faith that the Redeemer of the world is the same that was the Creator of it, and therefore has a good-will to it, a perfect knowledge of its case, and power to help it. 2. He is a God of inviolable fidelity. We may venture to take God’s word, for he <i>keepeth truth for ever</i>, and therefore no word of his shall fall to the ground; it is true <i>from the beginning</i>, and therefore true <i>to the end</i>. Our Lord Jesus is the Amen, <i>the faithful witness</i>, as well as <i>the beginning</i>, the author and principle, <i>of the creation of God</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Rev.3.14" href="/passage/?search=Rev.3.14">Rev. 3:14</a>. The keeping of God’s truth for ever is committed to him, for <i>all the promises</i> are in him <i>yea and amen</i>. 3. He is the patron of injured innocency: <i>He pleads the cause of the oppressed</i>, and (as we read it) he <i>executes judgment</i> for them. He often does it in his providence, giving redress to those that suffer wrong and clearing up their integrity. He will do it in the judgment of the great day. The Messiah came to rescue the children of men out of the hands of Satan the great oppressor, and, all judgment being committed to him, the executing of judgment upon persecutors is so among the rest, <a class="bibleref" title="Jude.1.15" href="/passage/?search=Jude.1.15">Jude 1:15</a>. 4. He is a bountiful benefactor to the necessitous: <i>He gives food to the hungry</i>; so God does in an ordinary way for the answering of the cravings of nature; so he has done sometimes in an extraordinary way, as when ravens fed Elijah; so Christ did more than once when he fed thousands miraculously with that which was intended but for one meal or two for his own family. This encourages us to hope in him as the nourisher of our souls with the bread of life. 5. He is the author of liberty to those that were bound: <i>The Lord looseth the prisoners</i>. He brought Israel out of the house of bondage in Egypt and afterwards in Babylon. The miracles Christ wrought, in making the dumb to speak and the deaf to hear with that one word, <i>Ephphatha—Be opened</i>, his cleansing lepers, and so discharging them from their confinements, and his raising the dead out of their graves, may all be included in this one of <i>loosing the prisoners</i>; and we may take encouragement from those to hope in him for that spiritual liberty which he came to proclaim, <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.61.1,Isa.61.2" href="/passage/?search=Isa.61.1,Isa.61.2"><span class="bibleref" title="Isa.61.1">Isa. 61:1</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Isa.61.2">2</span></a>. 6. He gives sight to those that have been long deprived of it; <i>The Lord can open the eyes of the blind</i>, and has often given to his afflicted people to see that comfort which before they were not aware of; witness <a class="bibleref" title="Gen.21.19" href="/passage/?search=Gen.21.19">Gen. 21:19</a>; and the prophet’s servant, <a class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.6.17" href="/passage/?search=2Kgs.6.17">2 Kgs. 6:17</a>. But this has special reference to Christ; for <i>since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind</i> till Christ did it (<a class="bibleref" title="John.9.32" href="/passage/?search=John.9.32">John 9:32</a>) and thereby encouraged us to hope in him for spiritual illumination. 7. He sets that straight which was crooked, and makes those easy
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