March 3, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from Psalms? Here’s today’s reading:
Psalms 89 (NIV)
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
What I loved about this Psalm is that it starts with reminders of God’s strength, might, and power. Reminders of His constant presence and the fact that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That He is our Father and He keeps his promises and loves unconditionally but must correct when correction is necessary.
The psalmist then clearly brings a desperate concern to God and asks for God to help in this hard time. Like all prayers should, he started with praise, thanks, and acknowledgement of what He knows God can do so his plea for help is also filled with affirmations of God’s ability to intervene and help. When we trust in the promises of God given as far back as David we know nothing is impossible for Him!
Faithfulness, beyond compare, Holy, Mighty, Creator, Powerful, Righteous, Our shield, Trustworthy – all words/characteristics to describe God in the first 37 verses. Then the writer laments the hardship cast upon the Jews because of the unfaithfulness of David’s successors, his sons. Though the covenant is everlasting and unconditional if a royal descendant is unfaithful he (like us) could “experience God’s discipline to the detriment of the whole nation”.
Psalm 89
The Psalm starts off with singing about God`s mercy and faithfulness. I counted faithfulness in 7 verses. They are verses 1, 2, 5, 8, 24, 33, and 37. I counted mercy in 5 verses. They are verses 1, 2, 14, 24, and 28. I read out of my King James version and found that the NIV Bible uses love instead of mercy. I am not sure why that is. Without doing a deeper study I would think that mercy would be more accurate. Pastor if you can address this. God`s faithfulness and His mercy toward us is totally amazing. Besides these truths there were two other verses that stood out to me. In verse 9 God can control the raging sea and make it calm. Jesus did this in the New Testament when He calmed the storm for the disciples. But he can also do it for us when we are going through raging seas of our own but find peace in Him. The other verse is 14 . It speaks of God`s justice and judgement. That they the habitation of His throne but he also grants us mercy and truth.
God is great and He has revealed His greatness in various ways: in His power, in His creation, in His managing creation, in His righteousness and justice, and in His provision and the way He has been loving and merciful to human kind. How true is verse 15: “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord”. In other words, God is there and over everyone and everything but it is only those who turn to Him that recognize it and gain the benefit of it. And for all that God is praiseworthy for, the greatest may be that He condescends to form relationship and covenant with us. Represented here in His relationship with David, that relationship says far more about how great God is as opposed to how great David was. And God offers the same kind for relationship with everyone. Maybe not with the same will and promises, but the same relationship.
But God’s people forsook Him and He brought His judgement on them because of it. And when that judgment is there and the righteous are lumped in with the wicked in the nation of Israel, it is easy for the righteous to ask, how long, or where are You? And it is ok to remind God of His promises and His character. Not that He needs to be reminded, but we do…and our faith is encouraged at the same time. And our prayers remain based in who God is and what He has said. And yet the resolution in any circumstance is as the Psalm ends: Praise be to the Lord, forever!
Psalm 89
Psalm 90-91
The Psalmist praises the Lord and asks questions.
“For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
O Lord God of hosts,”
God condescends to choose a man to make an everlasting covenant:
“Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one,
And said: “I have given help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found My servant David;
With My holy oil I have anointed him,
21 With whom My hand shall be established;
Also My arm shall strengthen him.”
“But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him,
And in My name his horn shall be exalted.
25 Also I will set his hand over the sea,
And his right hand over the rivers.
26 He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My mercy I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
29 His seed also I will make to endure forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
David’s sons will be disciplined.
But God will not break HIs covenant with David.
Our God is a God of righteousness, justice, love and faithfulness. The covenant he makes with his people will never fail. Even though he will punish Israel for their sins, he will not forsake his covenant or remove his love from them. The psalmist knows this truth, and asks God how long his anger will last. Then he praises him because he knows that in due time the Lord will have mercy on his people.
Amen Shelly!