20 [God said] I have found David my servant;
with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
21 My hand will sustain him;
surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not get the better of him;
the wicked will not oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down his adversaries.
24 My faithful love will be with him,
and through my name his horn[f] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.’
27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.
30 “If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
and I will not lie to David—
36 that his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;
37 it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.”
38 But you have rejected, you have spurned,
you have been very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant
and have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken through all his walls
and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
41 All who pass by have plundered him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword
and have not supported him in battle.
44 You have put an end to his splendor
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with a mantle of shame.
46 How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
–Psalm 89.20-46 (NIV)
In today’s psalm we have some interesting “on the ground” theology that shows us some interesting interaction between God and his people. Don’t let the historical context and accompanying language get you distracted so that you miss its message. First, we notice that the psalmist praises God for his faithfulness. God promises to bless David and his heritage, even if David’s offspring are unfaithful. Yes, God will punish that unfaithfulness but he will remain faithful to his promises to David nevertheless. So far, so good.
But here is where it gets really interesting. Note carefully how God’s people interpret this promise. Israel equates God’s promise to remain faithful to David with military victories. In other words, God’s promise to remain faithful has been interpreted in a way that fits Israel’s preconceived notion of God’s faithfulness so when that notion is violated, God’s people wonder what is going on.
Likewise with us. We still like to try and fit God and his working into our preconceived notions of what he should be doing (usually in ways that work out nicely for us–imagine that) instead of paying careful attention to the whole of Scripture and what it says about God’s faithfulness. This would be one reason why so many reject Jesus as God’s Messiah. He just doesn’t fit our expectations and preconceived notions about what a Messiah should look like or do. And let’s be honest. The notion of a crucified God is indeed rather mind-blowing.
But it is precisely here that we should stop and take a hard look at ourselves and our preconceptions. If we do, we are likely to find a jaw-dropping love being poured out for us on a cross–God’s very love for his wayward and rebellious people. The overall narrative of Scripture is about God’s rescue plan for his rebellious human creatures and how more often than not we have said no thank you to God, again in part because God is not behaving in ways that we expect or anticipate. But through it all, God is good to his promises, i.e., God remains faithful. Thanks be to God!
This also has an application for our prayer life. If we try to pigeonhole God to act or answer us in only certain ways, we will inevitably be disappointed. We are not all-knowing or eternal. We don’t have God’s perspective or his constancy. We are fickle and changing, profoundly broken, and often get our priorities mixed up. God is not plagued by any of that. So when we pray, we really have to be careful not to pigeonhole God in our requests. Of course we are all going to pray for our loved ones to get healed, etc. But we have no right to say to God that he is unfaithful when our prayers are not answered as we want, hope, or expect. To do so effectively means that we think we know better than God.
I have no idea why God chooses to answer some prayers and not others. Of course God will not answer patently bad or blatantly selfish prayers. But not all unanswered prayer is selfish or bad. What I do know is this. God is faithful, just, and merciful, and God knows far better than I do how to run his creation. I must therefore be content with that and get to learn about God and his character so that my preconceived notions, hopes, and fears do not hijack my love for God or blind me to God’s love and faithfulness toward his creatures and creation.
What about you? Are you trying to make God into your own image and make that the only basis on which you agree to love and worship him? Or do you know God well enough to trust him in any and every circumstance of your life? How you answer will determine the quality of life you are living (or not living).
