David was a man after God’s own heart. God raised him up and sustained him. David also made mistakes at times and created separation between himself and the Lord. Psalm 89 focuses on the Lord’s lovingkindness, faithfulness, eternal nature, righteousness, justice, power, etc. and recognizes Him as the source of salvation. It focuses on uplifting and praising the Lord first. This is a great way to start every prayer and consistent with how Jesus taught His disciples how to pray the “Lord’s Prayer” in which we first start with focus on the Lord… hallowed by Thy name, Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come… before it turns to ask anything. It goes on to call out how blessed are those who serve the Lord.
Then it highlights in verse 30 a pivotal and important topic. If we refuse to obey His law, His statutes, then He will punish us. He will discipline us like a good father disciplines children. However, He will not break His promises or His covenant.
Thus the psalmist continues to transition into a call for help from the Lord to deliver Israel from its afflictions. One would presume from the tone of the psalm, there is a repentant heart on behalf of Israel seeking forgiveness and reconciliation with the Lord and once again renewing submission to Him.
Then it ends with a very positive tone lifting up once again the Lord, “Blessed be the Lord forever!”.
It is quite a good example of how we should approach the Lord. Let us focus on Him and appreciate and praise Him. Let us recognize it is our sin that separates us from Him. Then let us seek reconciliation through submission and obedience, seeking Him once again. Let us recognize that His promises endure through even our disobedience and He will always be willing to receive us back again as the father did in the parable of the prodigal son. However, we also realize that there are consequences to our disobedience and sin.
Read slowly and thoughtfully. Seek for the Spirit to help you apply in your life.
The LORD’S Covenant with David, and Israel’s Afflictions.
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1I will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever;
To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
2For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever;
In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
3“I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
4I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.”
5The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD,
7A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
And awesome above all those who are around Him?
8O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
9You rule the swelling of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
10You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain;
You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
11The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and all it contains, You have founded them.
12The north and the south, You have created them;
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.
13You have a strong arm;
Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.
14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
15How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
16In Your name they rejoice all the day,
And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
17For You are the glory of their strength,
And by Your favor our horn is exalted.
18For our shield belongs to the LORD,
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones,
And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20“I have found David My servant;
With My holy oil I have anointed him,
21With whom My hand will be established;
My arm also will strengthen him.
22“The enemy will not deceive him,
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23“But I shall crush his adversaries before him,
And strike those who hate him.
24“My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,
And in My name his horn will be exalted.
25“I shall also set his hand on the sea
And his right hand on the rivers.
26“He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27“I also shall make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28“My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
29“So I will establish his descendants forever
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30“If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
31If they violate My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
32Then I will punish their transgression with the rod
And their iniquity with stripes.
33“But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,
Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.
34“My covenant I will not violate,
Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.
35“Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36“His descendants shall endure forever
And his throne as the sun before Me.
37“It shall be established forever like the moon,
And the witness in the sky is faithful.”
38But You have cast off and rejected,
You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.
39You have spurned the covenant of Your servant;
You have profaned his crown in the dust.
40You have broken down all his walls;
You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41All who pass along the way plunder him;
He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43You also turn back the edge of his sword
And have not made him stand in battle.
44You have made his splendor to cease
And cast his throne to the ground.
45You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.
46How long, O LORD?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath burn like fire?
47Remember what my span of life is;
For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!
48What man can live and not see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
49Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,
Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants;
How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
51With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD,
With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.
52Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen.
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