I don’t know if you have noticed, but lately, there is an increasing amount of news reports of new grassroots leaders working the ground. It seems like it’s about time to start preparing for the next general election. Obviously, I won’t know how far away the next election is, but in a way, it’s never too early to start, is it? Potential candidates need time to become a familiar face with the electorate. And familiarity is important because you tend to vote for somebody you can trust. Yet, familiarity is only one of the many factors of trust. I found an equation online that says “Trust equals reliability plus delight”. If you can repeatedly meet expectations or even exceed expectations, then you will gain and accumulate trust. This is the same for products and brands as it is for politicians and political parties. Some might say, “I don’t trust words, I trust actions”. That’s very true as well. Saying is one thing, delivering is another. You need the corresponding actions to prove to be trustworthy. This is why on the election campaign trail, politicians like to mention their track record, if not of themselves, at least of their political party. They want to be perceived as being worthy of your trust, and hence worthy of your vote.
Election times are when promises are made. Vote for me. I can do this. I can accomplish that. Have you ever wondered just how reliable these election promises are? Fact-checking website Politifact.com compiled more than 500 promises made by President Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. More than 500 promises were made! Out of those, about half were kept. A quarter were completed in a compromised manner, but still a quarter of those promises were broken. Out of the 25 top promises, 9 were kept and delivered, (4 still in the works), 7 partially fulfilled in the form of a compromise, but 5 promises were broken. [1] You might consider a politician with 20 over percent of broken promises really untrustworthy. However, “a Promise Broken rating does not necessarily constitute failure or mean that Obama failed to be an advocate for his promises. He could exert tremendous effort to fulfill any given promise but it could still die because of opposition in Congress. That might be a perfect example of the legislative checks and balances on the executive branch, or the impact of public opinion. A promise that was popular during the campaign could be less popular now because of changes in the economy.” Still, you might have hoped that the President of the United States should be able to fulfill any promise he vowed. But even assuming he meant his word and tried his best, in the end, that’s still a lot of promises he couldn’t keep.
Why are we talking about politicians and their promises? Because today’s psalm is about the big picture. It’s about our dreams and wishes for a country or a society. If I were to sum them up in two words, I think I would choose the words Justice and Care. The long version might be expressed as “to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation”. [2] We want a country that gives us equal rights regardless of our background. We want a society that cares for the needy. Actually, our dreams and wishes are not very different from those in the ancient days. During the time when this Psalm was composed, justice was expressed as the liberation of political prisoners, freed from the darkness of oppression. Justice meant that those in exile or humiliated because of their social status would have their self-esteem and human dignity restored. And welfare to the strangers, the orphans and widows would always be an indication of the degree of social concern. If these people who are typically the most defenceless and disadvantaged in the society are protected and well taken care of, then the rest should be doing fine as well. Whether it is ancient times or today, I believe if I were to take a poll amongst all of you, we’ll find these to be our primary desires: Justice and Care.
One question though: If such dreams and wishes are so straight-forward and common sensical, then why is it so rarely actualized? Whether in the past or even in the modern times, we still have political oppression of people who are marginalized in society. Just flip the newspaper to see the numerous examples. If everybody agrees Justice and Care is what we want, what makes it still a dream today? There could be many reasons, but a theological answer would be Sin. Politics is already such a tricky and precarious game, but when sin is added to the mix, that’s when dreams are shattered and wishes blown. Pride and self-interest would take precedent over the good of the society. Leaders are meant to manage common resources, to encourage and foster unity, and fight for the powerless. But all these takes authority and influence to accomplish. Yet, power corrupts when such powers are given. Sin describes the human tendency to abuse his freedom for the sake of his desires. Leaders often begin with a lofty ambition to create the perfect society. But when egos are bruised and sacrifices are needed, that’s when promises are broken and ideals compromised. The world has repeated this experiment many times. Socialism, Capitalism or Communism, each aims for noble goals to pursue. But sin has proved to be a lethal opponent each and every time.
Then what? Some might think that the answer is to wait for that sinless man and then give him all the authority he needs to make all things right. Human history has produced several remarkable people who have changed the world for the better and led us close to the dream. I’m thinking of people like Gandhi, Abraham Lincolhn, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, and perhaps, you might have your own heroes. But the psalmist thinks very little of this kind of hope. 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. No matter how wonderful they are, they will eventually die. Yet sin continues. Gandhi has died, violence and hatred lives on. Lincoln has died, salvery lives on. King and Mandela have died, but racism lives on.
Then what? Some say: Trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair. The broken promises from leadership everywhere might turn you into a cynical man. To hell with all leaders and dreams for the world. I will be an anarchist. Trust no one, and serve no one. If you were to see the comments on the internet, we might think that we are not that far off from that reality. The government or any authority can do nothing right, and only my personal opinion can be nothing wrong.
Brothers and sisters, beware. There is a word in the bible “bitterness” (Eph 4:31), which the Chinese bible translators translate as “苦毒”, which literally means bitter poison. This is an insightful translation because bitterness is like a form of poison that affects the mind. When you are continually troubled by the injustice of your country and the uncaring state of your society, that creates bitterness in you. But you might not sense or think that there is anything wrong. In fact, you might feel rather justified about your rage against all the wrongs of this world. But beware. That bitterness is poison. If it is not taken care of, over time, it makes you incapable of trust, incapable of dreams and eventually incapable of love. Bitterness can also be poison for an entire community. It manifests itself through ultra nationalism, protectionism, alienation of strangers and so on. I’m worried about some of the anti-foreigners campaigns that are going on. It’s a symptom of such bitterness unresolved in our Singaporean society. We’re seeking our own ways to resolve our perceived injustice and lack of care in our community. But poisoned by bitterness, our acts reek of the same injustice and coldness that we so yearn to eradicate.
If bitterness is a poison, then may I propose an antidote. This Psalm 146 belongs to a group of Hallel Psalms known as the “pesukei dezimra”. Hallel Psalms means psalms of praise. 2 years ago in 2012, we preached from Psalm 113-118, which are the Hallel Psalms sung during the major Jewish festivals. This year, we are preaching on another series of Hallel Psalms, Psalm 145-150, called pesukei dezimra (Aramaic: פְסוּקֵי דְּזִמְרָא, “hymnal verses”) or zemirot, as they are called in the Spanish and Portuguese tradition. They are a group of prayers that are recited daily during Jewish morning services. [3] I believe these Psalms may be the antidote to our bitterness against all the injustice and social apathy of this world. When Pastor Daniel was sharing on Psalm 145, he quoted this Jewish belief. That if anyone was to continuously recite that psalm 3 times a day, he will surely know that he is a child of the world to come. (任何人如果可以持续每天三次去颂读这首诗篇, 他肯定会知道自己就是未来世界之子). Sounds just like taking a medicine, doesn’t it?
Why do I think that these pesukai dezimra Hallel Psalms are the antidote to our bitterness? Because these psalms express what is the true hope of mankind. True hope rests not on fallible men and their campaign promises, even though they still have a job to do and we as citizens still must pick the right one to do the job well. True hope means faith that we will eventually receive that salvation that comes in the form of perfect justice and righteousness in this land. Faith that one day we will find peace and happiness for all. True hope therefore can only rest in the true God. Our Psalm today says: 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. The Psalmist mentions Jacob because he wants us to remember that there is one promise maker who is the true and faithful promise keeper. He will keep the promises of his covenant and he has the power to make it happen, and yet he will never be corrupted by this absolute power. Those who put their trust in him are blessed. They are blessed certainly because he will deliver his promise. But I think the greater blessing is that they will have true hope. Our bitterness and cynicism arose from our faithlessness. We have given up and despaired of a dream for a better world. This is poison. And putting our hope in the Lord is the antidote.
The Psalm reminds us: 10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord. I like the imagery shared by Pastor Daniel last week. Our God is like a King with open hands. That came from Ps 145: 16 “You open your hands and satisfy every living thing. Brothers and sisters, is your hope in the one true king? Sometimes it is not easy to hope when we see negative things everywhere. I like this Jewish discussion that I found online. This guy commented to his rabbi. “Israel, the Jewish people can trust only in G-d. Only through arousing our sense of Hashem’s power and providence can we possibly find any comfort. In the words of the Chovos HaLevavos, ‘He who does not trust in G-d, places his trust in something else.’ I certainly identify with this, perhaps more so, since I am so familiar with the way people live ‘out there.’ I find these Psalms extremely powerful.” [4] I agree with this reflection of these Psalms. They remind us to put our trust in the right place. Else you are just trusting something fallible. Or worse, you trust in your own cynical view of the world. You wallow in your own bitterness.
The Psalm begins with a charge. 1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Why do you have to tell yourself to praise? But sometimes it is like that. Calvin says “Having in general called upon all to praise God, he addresses himself… We may infer from this, that the influence which moved him is not volatile and superficial, but a staid and constant affection, followed up by activity, and proved by its efforts not to be feigned.” [5] Brothers and sisters, what are we fighting against? We are fighting against the injustice, cold heartedness and apathy of this world. But more so, we are fighting against the resulting bitterness. Our response is a call to praise and put our trust in the right place, in the one true King. Call yourself to praise. Every day. Maybe 3 times a day. When you have real hope in your heart, you will be a different person from the bitter and disillusioned world out there. You will be blessed and you will be a blessing.
