Psalm 89:46-52
In today’s reading the psalmist softens his words substantially from yesterday’s diatribe. He begins very pleadingly, How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? (v. 46a), but in the next half-verse he is back to charging God for His wrath. In verse 49 he links back to our readings from the last three days: Lord, where is Your steadfast love of old, which by Your faithfulness You swore to David? To me this is the key verse in the entire Psalm.
I’m intrigued at how the psalmist claims that he is receiving mockery and insults (vv. 50-51), seemingly because of his trust in God. At least that’s how I read it, in that he maintains that these insults come from “…Your enemies…” (v. 51a). I was trying to remember if anyone had ever scorned my faith and I can remember only three instances. Sadly, all of these came from family members. Such a sad reality…
Yesterday and today Fred has rightly noted the psalmist’s charges against God. And we can all recognize that those charges are not entirely legitimate, that God never has, in fact, renounced the covenant (v. 38). But we have the benefit of both hindsight and a much more complete revelation of the Gospel. The psalmist was writing from a radically different position. We do not know the exact circumstances in which this psalm was written, but it is clear that things were not going well (to say the least), and that the author was primarily focused on his (and the kingdom’s) earthly condition. He looked around and observed, and all the evidence at hand suggested that God was guilty as charged. And sometimes that is how it seems to us, too, even with all the benefits of knowing of the Cross and the Resurrection. We still need eyes of faith to cling to God and look for the return of our Savior.
I’d like to:
Great comment, John. Well said! It helps to walk in that other man’s moccasins.
Thanks, John.