LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS
Psalm 89
“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. … But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one. You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins.”
It should be quite evident that Psalm 89 is a wonderful tribute and meditation on the God who is both loving and faithful, until we reach the “but” in v38 and suddenly the psalm reads as an accusation that just as God had (seemingly) spurned Israel, so he had spurned love and faithfulness.
However, when we go beyond the pain that is behind the words of the Psalmist, we realise that he does not actually question the basis for God’s rejection of Israel at that point in time.
The Psalmist clearly understood that God will punish kings who forsake God’s law; he hangs his hopes, not on Israel’s innocence, but on the fact that God promised that he would not withhold his love or betray his faithfulness. As he has said earlier in the psalm, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.”
What the Psalmist wants to know, and seeks for in his psalm, is when he, and his country, will enjoy God’s love and faithfulness again.
Such a nuanced perspective is important for us to grasp and embrace. While God may act harshly (and justifiably so) his love and his faithfulness he will never take away nor betray. Conversely, God’s love and faithfulness towards us does not necessarily translate into blue skies and roses.
While we cry out in pain because our circumstances hurt us and perhaps it feels as though God has turned his face away from us, we must remember that God has made it clear that he will never compromise his promise of love and faithfulness towards us.
In the case of Israel in exile, it took 70 years before the door to return to Jerusalem was open. In the case of David’s kingly line, it took much longer, until Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
The fact remains that God was true to his word and his promises. This is the God whom we worship; the One who stands for love and faithfulness. We must trust him for that, despite the pain we may be enduring.
“Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.”