August 31 2023
Today, Thursday August 31
God Keeps His Promises
Psalm 89:19-37
“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. I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him. "But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted.
Also I will set his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.' Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.
"If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky." Selah”
Psalm 89 proclaims the faithfulness of God! The inspired writer of this Psalm was probably in captivity in Babylon with the people of Israel. As he reflected on the present condition of Israel he began to think about the character of God and His past faithfulness of God to the nation (vv. 1-18). Often, we as God’s children find ourselves in captivity to our flesh, the world and the devil, and we wonder if there is any hope of being delivered out of the mess we have made of our lives. That’s when we should also take time to read Psalm 89 and be reminded that we have a faithful God that always keeps His promises.
The writer not only thought about how God is faithful in His character, but that God Is faithful to His covenant and we should trust Him. From verse 19 to verse 37, it is the Lord who speaks, and He reminds us of what He did for David. The question in the mind of the writer was probably, "If you did so much for David, why then did you break your covenant and reject us?"
“You spoke in a vision…” (v. 19). What was the vision and to whom was it given? If we go back and read 1 Samuel 13:13-15 and 16:1-13, we find that God gave Samuel the message that David would succeed Saul on the throne of Israel, and He gave Nathan the prophet the message that David would not build the temple but would have a "throne forever" and a "house" (family) built by the Lord (2 Sam. 7:1-17). The Lord may have led the writer to rehearse this important information because the generations living after the exile needed to know it. Israel had a tremendously important ministry to fulfill in bringing the Messiah into the world, and He would come through the family of David.
In a sovereign act of grace, the Lord elected David to be king of Israel (vv. 19-20). Their first king, Saul of Benjamin, was never supposed to establish a dynasty because he was not from the royal tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10). David had proved himself before the Lord even before he stepped out on the stage of history and killed Goliath (1 Sam. 17:32-37). He had been faithful over a few things, and now the Lord would promote him to greater things (see Matt. 25:21).
The Lord who elected David also equipped him to fight battles, lead the army, and build the kingdom (vv. 21-23). Even as a youth, he was known for his military prowess. The Lord exalted David, because David was a humble man who would not promote himself (vv. 24-27). Indeed, God helped David to expand the borders of the kingdom so that it reached from the Mediterranean Sea on the west to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers on the east (see Ex. 23:31).
It was David's close relationship with the Lord and his desire to exalt the Lord alone that made him a success (v. 26). David was the eighth son in Jesse's family (1 Sam. 16:13), but God made him His firstborn, the honored son that received the greatest inheritance. David's greater Son, Jesus Christ, was also called "the firstborn" (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5). If David was "the highest of the kings of the earth" (v. 27), then he was "King of kings" like our Savior (see Rev. 17:14 and 19:16).
Finally, the Lord established David and promised him a throne and a dynasty forever (vv. 4, 36-37) (2 Sam. 7:13, 16, 24-26, 29). This is a promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
My friend, you can trust the Lord to keep His promises to us today!
God bless!