Meditation Part 2: Psalm 89

Kings Community Church, Lancaster

Here Ian meditates on God's love and faithfulness...

The Love of God

The first thing that draws my attention as I begin to meditate on this psalm is the stated intent of the psalmist found in verses 1 and 2: “I will sing” “I will make” “I will declare.”  To whom is he singing and what is the reason for his singing?  The Lord is to whom and the reason is “the Lord’s great love for ever.”

Beloved, never doubt God’s love for you even in difficult times; His love will sustain you and bring hope. Though circumstances may appear to conspire against you and people may fail you, always come back to the Cross and look afresh at the extent of His love for you.  At such times - even though it may be difficult to do - consider that they are moments, opportunities for God to prove His faithfulness to you; they are moments and opportunities for faith and understanding to grow.  Even in the darkest of days hold onto His word and you will find that His word will be a lamp to your feet and a light for your path (Psalm 119:105).

This love God has for us is not a transient sort of love, a love that is just for now or for a year or two, no, this love is forever. As sure as eternal life is found in Christ so is the certainty of His eternal love for all who believe in Him. The psalmist says in Psalm 45:1: “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king: my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.” Whenever I think and ponder on God’s love for me, the saving and gracious work He has done and continues to do, the wonderful mercy He provides each morning and His incredible faithfulness, all because of His love, “my heart is stirred” by this “noble theme.”

The Faithfulness of God

Be like the psalmist who in this psalm is remembering God’s wonderful covenant with David (verse 3), but is also sorrowful at the plight of his king and kingdom (verses 38-45 - more on this at a later date) and yet writes “I will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever.”
The second “I will” is that of making His “faithfulness known.”

Beloved, never doubt God’s faithfulness for He is as someone said “a hundred percent faithful a hundred percent of the time.”  In times such as outlined above, come back to the Cross and see His faithfulness towards you. Throughout the Old Testament God revealed His plan of salvation and deliverance for mankind.  I’m reminded at this point of how the writer begins his letter in Hebrews 1:2: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son”.  Christ is the fulfillment of what was spoken to the forefathers and prophets, He is God’s faithfulness personified and by His Holy Spirit speaks and reveals His faithfulness, even today.

Sometimes when things are not going as well as I would want, when circumstances appear out of my control, when I don’t fully understand events that are happening, when needs do not appear to be being met I remember ways in which God has shown His faithfulness to me.  You see, I am, in these situations, faced with a choice either to dwell on what appears to be a hopeless situation and thereby ‘know the awful outcome,’ which determines my attitude and actions or to remember and remind myself that God is bigger than my problem and is faithful to His word.  I came across a quote recently, I don’t know who said it but it was this: “don’t tell God how big your problem is, tell the problem how big God is”.  I like that.  I also find it a good and a biblical thing to do to remind not only myself of God’s faithfulness but also to remind God.  Perhaps ‘remind’ isn’t the best of words to use here as I know God doesn’t have a memory problem but Moses did it as part of his intercessory prayer (Deuteronomy 9:26 - 29), and so does our psalmist here in Psalm 89: in verse 3 “You said...” and in verse 19, “Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said...”.  I think He likes us to speak out His word and His promises, to declare His faithfulness so that we will, according to our own confession, see His power at work and His faithfulness manifested, the net result being our faith grows.

It’s also important to speak of and to remind each generation of His faithfulness.  How up-to-date is my testimony?

  • This week's word...

  • "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another."

    [John 13:34-35, NIV]

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