Psalms Reading – 3.24.2022
Psalm 89
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, I have sworn to David my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.’”
5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endowed with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said: “I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
21 My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down his adversaries.
24 My faithful love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’
27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.
29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.
30 “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David—
36 that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun;
37 it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”
38 But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
41 All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword
and have not supported him in battle.
44 You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame.
46 How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all humanity!
48 Who can live and not see death, or who can escape the power of the grave?
49 Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
51 the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked, with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.
52 Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.
Ethan, the author, is one of the three music directors for Israel. The psalm opens with enthusiastic praise based on God’s promises to David. The praise continues in declaring God is incomparable among the heavenly beings. He celebrates God’s power as sovereign over all of creation.
He declares God’s attributes of righteousness and justice are God’s foundation. God’s love and faithfulness go before Him preparing the way. He gives us one of the 30 “blesseds” in the Psalms. The “blessed one” has learned to applaud God and walk in the light of His presence.
He then reviews the Davidic covenant in great detail, including God’s promise that it would stand forever. God did not anticipate that the Davidic kings would be without sin; he would punish them, but his covenant would remain unbroken nonetheless.
And then the train wreck happens in verse 38. What has been a beautiful song of praise and remembrance of God’s attributes and covenant abruptly turns into a harsh lament stating that God has broken His promises and rejected His covenant with David. However, the psalmist seems to ignore the many instances of Israel’s and Judah’s unfaithfulness to God, the very reason for God abandoning them to their enemies. After this pessimism, the psalm does end on a note of praise.
Regardless of our circumstances and what we think God may have unjustly done, He is always worthy of praise.
Memory Verse: Psalm 86:15, But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Question(s) to Consider: What do you make of this psalm from how it begins to how it ends? Are you able to offer praise to God today even if you are angry with what is happening in your life?