Easter music

I've been reflecting a bit on this season, which comes around once a year. As I write this, I'm really enjoying the holiday podcast from Under the Radar, which features some excellent music for the weekend season. You can listen to the whole podcast here: Radar Radio Easter Special

As I grow older, I really value the cycles of the Christian calendar, which reminds me of the incredible story of salvation that I'm part of. Reading scripture, it becomes more and more clear to me that everything in the Bible is about Jesus. Take the psalms for example. I was reading Psalm 146, and check out what it says (ESV):

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord

This is essentially a treatise on the incredible story of redemption. The focus starts out on God and his worthiness of of praise, then contrasts it with humanity's inability to save, and returns to an exposition of God's saving character.

As believers, our trust is not in princes or earthly sons of men (vs. 3), but in the heavenly Son of Man, who is the God of Jacob (vs. 5).

What an incredible gift! The same one "who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry" (vs. 6-7) is our Savior.

But wait, the list goes on! He frees the prisoners (7), gives sight to the blind, encourages the disheartened, loves the righteous (8), watches over travelers, upholds those in difficult broken circumstances, and destroys the wicked (9).

I don't know about you, but this is super encouraging to me - it's a reminder not only of God's glorious character, but of my own inability to save myself. But God has done what I cannot, through his death on the cross and his resurrection. He truly is the one "who keeps faith forever," and that's why I can live in joy and righteousness.

Indeed, the Lord WILL reign forever, enthroned in his city, Zion, for all eternity and to all generations. Praise the Lord!