Psalm 146 NRSV
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! 

Reflection:
After hastily beginning my day of working in my new normal, I noticed that this was my assigned psalm for the day in my devotional, and it changed my day completely. This psalm is completely about praising God for what God has done and what God will continue to do for the Hebrew people. It is a psalm of comfort to people who are in need of good news. God has come to deliver us and provide for us in the past, and God will surely do so again. That is a piece of good news that I am hungry for today, and you might be, too.

It is important for us as readers to remember that a good number of the psalms were written during times of hardship or exile. Our psalm for us today may have been written in such a time. The psalmist chooses to give hope to the people by reminding them of God’s faithfulness to the Hebrew people all throughout the generations. The author also points them to hope for a coming liberation from what binds them by reminding them of God’s word and faithfulness to them over the ages.

The Ignatian tradition in Christianity refers to this as consolation. In this important gem of a spiritual discipline, we are able to be rooted in hope by remembering God’s faithfulness over time and remembering that God has been at work in our lives before we even realized it. Even though we have periods in our lives when God’s presence might feel distant, we can remember God’s presence in scripture and in our own lives to console us and give us the hope we need.

What if the very first thing we did today was praise God for what God has done and ground ourselves in that hope for the future? Try to spend some time writing your own psalm in which we give thanks for specific times when you can look back and see God working in your life. Let this serve as a piece of comfort and hope for you in times when you have doubt.

Closing Prayer:
Holy and Wonderful God, I thank you for all that you have done in my life. Even in times of worry I am able to look back at how your grace has been at work in my life and rejoice in You. God, I ask that you continue to remind me of your presence in the past and your faithfulness to continue to walk with me through life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.