January 12, 2026 -- Psalm 145:2,14 -- What is God like? He lifts up the weary

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Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
The LORD upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
Psalm 145:2,14 ESV
 
We’ve embarked on a journey of learning what God is like. Why does it matter what He is like? The Promise-Making, Promise-Keeping LORD of the Bible is more than just a concept. He is not just a philosophical proposition, nor is He just an intellectual oddity. He is personal. He is near. He is good. The more you know Him, the more you rely on Him. The more you understand the more you realize He is powerful and His lovingkindness is pledged towards rescuing His people.
 
I don’t know about you, but my own heart and mind often push against me—I have desires and cravings and secret motives which prove to me I am not fully weaned from sin. It is easy to begin to wonder, “can God really love me?”  Or to think, “I have confessed this same sin too many times to count, how is it that He hasn’t said, ‘That’s it! I’m tired of that sinful, wayward man’?” To meditate on God means I am spending time thinking about what He is like. He is so utterly different than any person I’ve ever met; He is in a category on His own. I need to read and hold onto what the Bible teaches. As I do so, I am encouraged to turn to Him. I know I will be cleansed in the deepest areas of my soul. I will be strengthened to turn from sin. I will be embraced by Him Who never tires or gets bored of saving His people.
 
Notice it is the LORD, His Name is all in capitals, which points to His power, His ability to strengthen, and His covenant-commitment to do so; it is He Who upholds all who are falling. Perhaps you are falling into despair? Maybe it is temptation? Maybe it is letting yourself go back into familiar sins? Maybe it is fear of your circumstances which are truly dire? Maybe you are overwhelmed and so tired?  Where is your help?
 
Look again at the verse. There is a parallel of intensification—the second phrase is very similar to the first and by repetition it is teaching the reader something to the effect of, you can truly count on this. He raises up all who are bowed down. Put together you have a sense that the Great LORD of the Universe is aware of my life and circumstances. For me there is a mental image of having fallen in the battlefield of life, God has Himself gone into the thick of battle, picked me up, and is half-carrying, guiding me with my broken, halting steps, to the place of safety.
 
What is the battlefield you find yourself in today? What is the pain? What is the wound? What is the need? What is the enemy shooting at you whose arrows are finding their mark so that you wonder if you can go another step? Today’s text, adding to the previously declared facts that God is gracious, merciful, steadfast in love, good to all He has made, David added my God and King will lift me from the mud of my broken circumstances and bring me to the place of healing.
In Christ, all your sins are forgiven. Confess them confident of this truth.
In the Spirit, you are strengthened in the core of who you are so that God’s help is effective. Call out to Him.
In community with other Christians, you have prayer warriors who pray when you can’t. Reach out.
 
Prayer
There is no treasure so wonderful as that continuous experience of Your grace toward me which alone can subdue the risings of sin within: Give me more of it.1
Every day I will bless Your Name and praise Your Name forever and ever2. Amen.
 
1 From Valley of Vision. Last two lines of the prayer “The Dark Guest”
2 Psalm 145:2
 
https://youtu.be/jbmoHpe-Yqg?si=nGezH5b2Ld0U2d90 The Lord’s Prayer
 

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