Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings…

(Songwriters: Bradley B. C. Avery / David Carr / Johnny Mac Powell / Mark D. Lee / Samuel Tai Anderson, Your Love Oh Lord lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.; Sung by Third Day.)

Psalm 89, The Message

A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

^1-4 Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it!
    I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are.
I’ll never quit telling the story of your love—
    how you built the cosmos
    and guaranteed everything in it.
Your love has always been our lives’ foundation,
    your fidelity has been the roof over our world.
You once said, “I joined forces with my chosen leader,
    I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,
‘Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life;
    I’ll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.’”

^5-18 God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways,
    the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways!
Search high and low, scan skies and land,
    you’ll find nothing and no one quite like God.
The holy angels are in awe before him;
    he looms immense and august over everyone around him.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who is like you,
    powerful and faithful from every angle?
You put the arrogant ocean in its place
    and calm its waves when they turn unruly.
You gave that old hag Egypt the back of your hand,
    you brushed off your enemies with a flick of your wrist.
You own the cosmos—you made everything in it,
    everything from atom to archangel.
You positioned the North and South Poles;
    the mountains Tabor and Hermon sing duets to you.
With your well-muscled arm and your grip of steel—
    nobody messes with you!
The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule;
    Love and Truth are its fruits.
Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise,
    who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.
Delighted, they dance all day long; they know
    who you are, what you do—they can’t keep it quiet!
Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us—
    you’ve been so good to us! We’re walking on air!
All we are and have we owe to God,
    Holy God of Israel, our King!

^19-37 A long time ago you spoke in a vision,
    you spoke to your faithful beloved:
“I’ve crowned a hero,
    I chose the best I could find;
I found David, my servant,
    poured holy oil on his head,
And I’ll keep my hand steadily on him,
    yes, I’ll stick with him through thick and thin.
No enemy will get the best of him,
    no scoundrel will do him in.
I’ll weed out all who oppose him,
    I’ll clean out all who hate him.
I’m with him for good and I’ll love him forever;
    I’ve set him on high—he’s riding high!
I’ve put Ocean in his one hand, River in the other;
    he’ll call out, ‘Oh, my Father—my God, my Rock of Salvation!’
Yes, I’m setting him apart as the First of the royal line,
    High King over all of earth’s kings.
I’ll preserve him eternally in my love,
    I’ll faithfully do all I so solemnly promised.
I’ll guarantee his family tree
    and underwrite his rule.
If his children refuse to do what I tell them,
    if they refuse to walk in the way I show them,
If they spit on the directions I give them
    and tear up the rules I post for them—
I’ll rub their faces in the dirt of their rebellion
    and make them face the music.
But I’ll never throw them out,
    never abandon or disown them.
Do you think I’d withdraw my holy promise?
    or take back words I’d already spoken?
I’ve given my word, my whole and holy word;
    do you think I would lie to David?
His family tree is here for good,
    his sovereignty as sure as the sun,
Dependable as the phases of the moon,
    inescapable as weather.”

^38-52 But God, you did walk off and leave us,
    you lost your temper with the one you anointed.
You tore up the promise you made to your servant,
    you stomped his crown in the mud.
You blasted his home to kingdom come,
    reduced his city to a pile of rubble
Picked clean by wayfaring strangers,
    a joke to all the neighbors.
You declared a holiday for all his enemies,
    and they’re celebrating for all they’re worth.
Angry, you opposed him in battle,
    refused to fight on his side;
You robbed him of his splendor, humiliated this warrior,
    ground his kingly honor in the dirt.
You took the best years of his life
    and left him an impotent, ruined husk.
How long do we put up with this, God?
    Are you gone for good? Will you hold this grudge forever?
Remember my sorrow and how short life is.
    Did you create men and women for nothing but this?
We’ll see death soon enough. Everyone does.
    And there’s no back door out of hell.
So where is the love you’re so famous for, Lord?
    What happened to your promise to David?
Take a good look at your servant, dear Lord;
    I’m the butt of the jokes of all nations,
The taunting jokes of your enemies, God,
    as they dog the steps of your dear anointed.

        Blessed be God forever and always!
            Yes. Oh, yes.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This psalm is clearly not only thanking God for David but are words to celebrate David’s glorious reign. David’s reign was successful only because God sustained him, forgave him, and guided his path with wisdom, conviction, correction, and compassion.  One of David’s descendants (Jesus Christ) would reign over God’s people forever.  God promised and delivered—Our Deliverer, Jesus Christ our Savior and our Lord.

This is the Truth that we know and learn from God’s Word who became flesh and walk among us;

• God’s love never changes for us. 
• God never changes in what He expects from us—to love Him back in surrender to His best. 
• God does not lie. God will keep all His promises. 
• God prepares His people for what lies ahead with enough information to sustain us in the journey with Him and to Him.
• God is Present always. God is Present among those who are fully committed to Him, who delight in all His ways, with hearts’ desires to do what He says. 
• Our power, strength, and help come from our faithful God who never gives up on us.
• God sent His Son, Jesus to earth to be born of a virgin and nurtured by a devote earthly father.
• Jesus’ mission was to love, forgive, heal, and save humanity from our sins. Jesus paid the debt and set all who believe free from the bondage of our sins.
• Jesus was the Messiah, “one who saves”, and is now the KING of kings and LORD of lords who reigns—just as God said and delivered from the line of David, His anointed earthy king.
• Jesus is coming again, soon, to take us to our heavenly home, the home He has prepared for us from the beginning. 

PLOT TWIST WITHIN THE SONG OF PRAISE:

As the praise for God keep coming; we are praising, too!  Then all of a sudden Ethan, the writer of Psalm 88, looked back and asked what had happened to the great unfailing love the Lord had shown to David. Ethan is obviously struggling with dealing with the consequences currently caused by the rebellion of God’s people.  But the psalmist knows that God’s love had not changed; it was Judah’s love for the Lord that had waned. Like any good parent, God shows His love to Hs children either by blessing their obedience or chastening them for their disobedience, but in either situation, God is manifesting His love.

Warren Wiersbe writes;

“This Psalm expresses a great truth: No matter how much we suffer because of the sins of others, and no matter how perplexed we may be at the providential workings of the Lord, we should still be able to say by faith, “Blessed be the LORD forevermore!” And our fellow sufferers ought to respond with, “Amen and Amen!” That’s the way of trust—faith in the faithfulness of the Lord.”—Wiersbe Study Bible

“Trust and Obey for there’s no other way…”

Lord,

Thank you for your relentless love and forever faithfulness to us—even when we are less than faithful to you.  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your mercies, and restore the joy of your salvation continually at work within us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen