If you have trusted in people or things to save you, or your loved ones, you know how hopeless it can be. In contrast, the psalmist points us to hope in the Lord God, “Blessed is he…whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Ps. 146:5). Our help and our hope is secure in Him because He is the Creator and the Redeemer.

Over the years of serving in women’s ministry I have spoken with many mothers who are grieved over a child who is not walking with the Lord. Oftentimes they recount for me how they raised their child to love and serve God, but after he or she left home they walked away from Christ and His church. They are often looking for answers, which I don’t have, but what I do have are words of truth that can comfort them in their sorrow. What would you say if a parent came to you, brokenhearted over a prodigal child? Psalm 146 is a good place to start.

Salvation Is Not In Man

Psalm 146 begins and ends with a call to praise the covenant Lord, “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!” (v. 1). In response, the psalmist commits to a lifetime of praise, “I will praise the LORD as long as I live” (v. 2). Part of what it means to praise the Lord is to trust Him, not just for our own salvation, but for the salvation of our loved ones. “Put not your trust in…a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (v. 3). We cannot save, but God saves all those who are His elect people. Therefore, we can entrust our loved ones to Him.

Because people are dead in their trespasses and sins, they need the Lord to give them a new heart, so that they can trust Him. Therefore, we should ask God to deliver our loved ones from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. If we’re honest, we easily turn to trusting in people, places, things or ideas instead of the triune God to save those we love.

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