Praise be to you, Lord God, King of Creation, for your great and gracious heart. Praise you that you look down and see every single person on this earth: each one’s needs, desires, suffering, rebellion and anger. I praise you that you work in the life of each one to supply their needs (Matt 5:45), to bring them help, to bring them into your Kingdom (John 16:8-10).
Psa 146:7 “He upholds the cause of the oppressed” [You went right to the core of the problem, Lord Jesus, providing rescue from the oppression of Satan, of sin and of self—all other oppression oozes out of these three. Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for paying the price of great, deep, profound, excruciating suffering to provide the only escape from this oppression. Praise you that you give grace, guidance and goodness to your children in the midst of every oppression so we can rise above it.]
“and gives food to the hungry.” [You are the One who provides our daily bread, you give enough to live on–although people often squander it, or withhold it from others. We praise you that you are not like that but give to all.]
“The LORD sets prisoners free,” [We are all bound by aspects of sin: the web of Satan that has snared us in its sticky strands. Just being born into a broken and twisted world results in quirks and twists in our personalities that bring problems, difficulties and oppression. Our upbringing and family culture in a sinful world built dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and desires into our being. Our worldview and its internalized values ensnare us in destructive feelings, desires and goals. All these produce emotional traps, giving false answers to the great and proper thirst for approval, for significance, for belonging, for security. They then produce fear: fear of man, fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of pain, loss and hurt. Satan uses all these to oppress, control and in the end to kill all he can.
But You, Lord Jesus, have opened the door to the prison of the devil, you have called us to step out of the place of oppression into the light of your Love, into the rich relationship where our fears can be washed away in the river of your goodness and grace and glory. In you we belong, we have significance, we have security, we have approval. In you there is the certainty of your shepherding us through every valley of life into the wonder of your everlasting dwelling in heaven.
You have provided all that is needed in order to set us free. You are worthy of great honor, praise and exaltation, of obedience, glory and thanksgiving. I lift you up, praise your Name and exalt your Word above all things.
