The Fingerprints of a Prince We Can Trust

Gina and I made for an odd pair. Aside from the wheelchairs we rode in and the fact that 20 years ago we traveled with a little band of fellow residents in an inpatient rehabilitation program for about a month, we had nothing in common. Black. White. Democrat. Republican. New to the adult world. Experience in the halls of power with the stories to prove it.  Close-cut Afro. Opie Taylor haircut. My vague notions of changing the world through politics so as to avoid getting a real job but with no concept of confrontation contrasted sharply with her willingness to name the Opie Taylor haircut and assertiveness to volunteer to pay for its updating. With that same assertiveness, she told me I needed to make the most of my party's ascendancy.

I basked in the attention. I also wanted to make it clear that as a very recent college graduate, I was a man of the world. To prove this, I brought Gina a photograph made with a congressman for whom I interned. I undermined the effort, however, when I let slip a question as to why his more photogenic smile lacked my squint. Mentoring forbearance gave way to bluntness when she snapped, "Because he doesn't have your mama and daddy."

I recently conjured up this little encounter when I came up for air to consider the opening of Psalm 146. The second verse tracks with Gina's terse rejoinder, warning those who would copy this world's princes or resent when they cannot, "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help." We can use this first to rejoice in God's originality when He created us and His reliability which surpasses that of even our most revered heroes, OR we can manipulate this verse as our catchall excuse to avoid learning from what He does and someone else's life. If we don't trust in people, we tell ourselves, what you need with human examples or mentors? Why pay attention to His work in other people?

Before we can harden in this cynical attitude, verse five crested in with enthusiasm. "HAPPY is he who has the God OF JACOB for his help." God identifies Himself for all time with His individualistic, signature work in particular people, in Psalm 146:5 with a guy he actually renames Israel which can be translated "Prince". We may know in general terms that He blesses work, but have we forgotten that He gets so involved in the particulars of the job that He colors the flock to contribute to the prosperity of one of His servants? (Genesis 30:32-43)  If God decides to relate theology in terms of sheep stripes, I might be missing something if I fail to listen because I envy somebody else's success on his or her job. The detailed involvement of the God of Jacob in the job of Jacob is the stuff of which happiness is made. Makes me want to enter into each conversation easier to find out how He has prospered the person I'm talking to.

We may know generally that God perseveres in discipling people, but the God of Jacob actually wrestled with him to do so. (Genesis 32:22-32) That is, the very theology on which we are instructed to rely plays out in the quirky people around us, in their successes and in their stubbornness. Just as the parents of each person we meet are different, so are the aspects God shows of Himself. Thus, we don't look to people for a pattern to follow exactly, and neither do we dismiss them as irrelevant to the choices we face. Instead, in biblical balance, with discernment, we can see vestiges of the One in His image they are made.