II Chronicles 36:17-21; Ezekiel 12; Psalm 89
Rewind. Replay. We get to see the Fall of Jerusalem all over again through the Chronicler’s summary of the event, with his added recognition that it is all a fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Then we get to go back a bit further to before Jerusalem’s Fall to watch Ezekiel’s dramatized prediction of Zedekiah’s attempt to flee, resulting in Zedekiah’s capture and exile to Babylon, a place to which he will go, but which he will never see.
Psalm 89 focuses our attention on an unthinkable aspect of Judah’s crushing defeat: the end of the Davidic dynasty. The psalmist wrestles with the cognitive dissonance between a) his trust in a faithful, omnipotent God, Who promised to firmly establish David’s throne forever; and b) the clear evidence before his eyes that no one now sits on that throne. How can this be? Where is God in this disaster? We may know the end of this story, but the psalmist does not. We know Jesus fulfills the promise and reigns as King even now, but the psalmist cannot yet see that, and so he cries out in confusion and dismay. Yet even so he affirms that the LORD is good and right and true, despite the mocking and insults the psalmist endures for maintaining such a position. (Ps. 89:50-51)
We may not share the psalmist’s confusion over (the apparently obvious end of) the Davidic dynasty, but we all face difficult circumstances of some form or other that challenge our faith, and it is in those circumstances that our faith grows or dies. Is God good, or isn’t He? Is God faithful, or isn’t He? Is God almighty, or isn’t He? Is God just, or isn’t He? Does God love me, or doesn’t He?
See also:
- August 11 (2022) / Psalm 89:1-18
- August 12 (2022) / Psalm 89:19-37
- August 13 (2022) / Psalm 89:38-45
- August 14 (2022) / Psalm 89:46-52
One more thing…
We suffer these things because of our fault and of our deserving as the divine judgment has forewarned us, saying, “If they have forsaken My law and have walked not in My judgments, if they have profaned My ordinances and have kept not My commands, I will visit their crime with a rod and their guilt with stripes.” We, therefore, who neither please God with our good deeds nor satisfy Him for our sins, feel the rods and the lashes. Let us ask from the depth of our heart and with our whole mind the mercy of God because He Himself adds this, saying, “Yet My kindness I will not take from them.” Let us ask and we receive; and if there is a delay and tardiness in our receiving because we have offended gravely, let us knock because to him who also knocks it is opened, provided only our prayers and groans and tears knock at the door, in which we ought to persist and to employ much time, provided our prayer is also of one mind.
Saint Cyprian on Psalm 89, from Letter 11.2
Clarification on today’s Psalm 89… The Psalm gets a bit confusing in that it goes back and forth between the author’s narrative and the LORD speaking. So, depending on your translation, watch for quotation marks that begin and end the LORD’s words.