Truth (Psalm 89:38-45)

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.

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What struck me about this section is that the psalmist is mistaken.  He accuses God of renouncing His covenant with David.  He has come to this conclusion based on what he has observed about the state of his people, the monarchy, and the apparent non-responsiveness to God regarding the whole situation.  He is quite confident of this conclusion apparently, putting it into this song, and hurling the accusation at God.

It is not a light accusation.  It cuts to the heart of the character of God and our relationship with Him. If God is capable of renouncing His covenant willy-nilly, then what confidence can we have in Him at all?  What is our basis for hope?  How can we expect answers to prayer, deliverance from evil, or even salvation?  How can we go forth confident that we are His people, if He can just turn on a dime, and make us not His people?

But the accusation is incorrect.  God has not renounced the covenant with David.  Although the kings are temporarily off their earthly throne, the kingly line continues, and along with it all the promises of God.  The covenant with David (2 Samuel 7) will flower into full fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.

So what is the point for me today?  This is a call to humility in our assertions about the activities and intentions of God.  What is certain is what God has clearly asserted in His word, in this case the covenant with David. What is uncertain are our interpretations of God’s activities in the world, along with the way He is fulfilling His promises.

For instance, when a Christian dies of an illness, we can confidently say that he or she is with the Lord and will be raised when Christ returns.  These are clearly promised in Scripture.  But if we assert that the person’s death was God’s will, or that God didn’t answer our prayers for healing, or that God must be punishing them or their family, we are on very uncertain ground, and no matter how confidently we may feel about these assertions, we may very well be wrong.

So I’m praying for humility and wisdom today.  I pray for humility before God that I may readily acknowledge that I do not know as much about His will and plans as I might think. And I pray for wisdom to rightly hear God’s voice in His Word and as He calls me to follow Him in life.

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