God Is Faithful in His Character--Praise Him (Psalm 89:1-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/17/2012 8:16:35 AM
My Worship Time   Focus:  God is Faithful in His Character—Praise Him
Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:  Psalm 89:1-18
 Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will begin to look at a very long psalm.  Psalm 89 is one of the longer chapters in the Scriptures and we will begin by looking at the introduction of the psalm quoting different Bible commentators so that we will have a better idea of what the psalm is all about and how we can apply some of the things that we learn to our lives so we pray as the psalmist did in the 119th Psalm, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.”
 “Many psalms that begin with complaint and prayer end with joy and praise, but this begins with joy and praise and ends with sad complaints and petitions; for the psalmist first recounts God’s former favours, and then with the consideration of them aggravates the present grievances. It is uncertain when it was penned; only, in general, that it was at a time when the house of David was woefully eclipsed; some think it was at the time of the captivity of Babylon, when king Zedekiah was insulted over, and abused, by Nebuchadnezzar, and then they make the title to signify no more than that the psalm was set to the tune of a song of Ethan the son of Zerah, called Maschil; others suppose it to be penned by Ethan, who is mentioned in the story of Solomon, who, outliving that glorious prince, thus lamented the great disgrace done to the house of David in the next reign by the revolt of the ten tribes.”  (Matthew Henry)
 “We have now reached the majestic Covenant Psalm, which, according to the Jewish arrangement closes the third book of the Psalms. It is the utterance of a believer, in presence of great national disaster, pleading with his God, urging the grand argument of covenant engagements, and expecting deliverance and help, because of the faithfulness of Jehovah.
     “ TITLE: — Maschil. This is most fitly called a Maschil, for it is most instructive. No subject is more important or is so fully the key to all theology as that of the covenant. He who is taught by the Holy Spirit to be clear upon the covenant of grace will be a scribe well instructed in the things of the kingdom; he whose doctrinal theory is a mingle mangle of works and grace is scarcely fit to be teacher of babes. Of Ethan the Ezrahite: perhaps the same person as Jeduthun, who was a musician in David’s reign; was noted for his wisdom in Solomon’s days, and probably survived till the troubles of Rehoboam’s period. If this be the man, he must have written this Psalm in his old age, when troubles were coming thick and heavy upon the dynasty of David and the land of Judah; this is not at all improbable, and there is much in the Psalm which looks that way.
      “DIVISIONS: — The sacred poet commences by affirming his belief in the faithfulness of the Lord to his covenant with the house of David, and makes his first pause at #Ps 89:4. He then praises and magnifies the name of the Lord for his power, justice, and mercy, #Ps 89:5-14. This leads him to sing of the happiness of the people who have such a God to be their glory and defense, #Ps 89:15-18. He rehearses the terms if the covenant at full length with evident delight, #Ps 89:19-37, and then mournfully pours out his complaint and petition, #Ps 89:38-51, closing the whole with a hearty benediction and a double Amen. May the Holy Spirit greatly bless to us the reading of this most precious Psalm of instruction.” (Charles H. Spurgeon) 
 “This psalm describes the author’s attempt to reconcile the seeming contradictions between his theology and the reality of his nations’ conditions.  Through the first 37 verses, he rehearses what he knows to be theologically accurate.  God has sovereignty chosen Israel to be His nation, and David’s descendants to rule.  The last third of the psalm reflects the psalmist’s chagrin that the nation had been ravaged and the Davidic monarchy had apparently come to a disgraceful end.  To his credit, the psalmist refuses to explain away his theology, but instead keeps the tension, hopefully to be resolved at a later time with the promised reestablishment of an earthly kingdom under one of David’s descendants (cf. 110, 132).”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)
 “If the author is the wise man Ethan of Solomon’s reign (1Kings 4:31), then verses 39-45 describe the invasion of Shishak and the Egyptian army recorded in 1Chronicles 12, which occurred during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam.  But this invasion did not mean the end of the Davidic dynasty, which is the major theme of this psalm.  However, the invasion and captivity of Judah by the Babylonians did mean the end of the Davidic dynasty, so this psalm could have been written after the crisis by an unknown ‘Ethan.’  Young King Jehoiachin has already been taken captive to Babylon and Zedekiah his uncle, named king in his place (2Kings 24), and Jeremiah had announced that none of Jehoiachin’s sons would ever sin on David’s throne (Jer. 22:24-29).  What then, becomes of God’s covenant that promised David a throne forever (vv. 3, 28, 34, 29), and see 2Sam. 7)?  Does Jehovah no longer keep His promises?  The faithfulness of the Lord is the major theme of this psalm (vv. 1, 2, 5, 8, 14, 33, 49).  Of course, God’s great promises to David has their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Son of David (Luke 1:26-38, 68-79).  The psalm gives us four assurances about the faithfulness of the Lord.”  (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)
God Is Faithful in His Character—Praise Him (vv. 1-18):  “1 ¶  «A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.» I will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth. 2  For I have said, "Lovingkindness will be built up forever; In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness." 3  "I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, 4  I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations." Selah.
    “5 ¶  The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. 6  For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD, 7  A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him? 8  O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. 9  You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them. 10  You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. 11  The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them. 12  The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name. 13  You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted. 14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
    “15 ¶  How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance. 16  In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted. 17  For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted. 18  For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.”
 I know that we have looked at the word “Maskil” in different psalms for the word is found in 13 psalms.  I thought it would be good to get a definition for this word although it seems that the meaning of it is not at all truly understood.  “Maschil, (Maskil).  A Heb. Term found in the title of 13 psalms (Ps. 32, 42, 44, 45, 52, 53, 54, 55, 74, 48, 88, 89, 142), indicating the type of psalm, I,e., a didactic poem.  The same Heb. Word is found in Ps. 47:7 where in the KJV it is translated ‘understanding’ (NASB, ‘a skillful psalm’).  It is probably based on a Heb. Verb meaning ‘to attend, to turn the mind to, to be understand or prudent.’  On the other hand, the term may indicate a special kind of musical performance.”  (Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia)
 After reading the different introductions on Psalm 89 I believe that this psalm was written after the fall of Jerusalem, and was written for the purpose of praising the Lord for His faithfulness even though I don’t see that the author has a total understanding of what God is going to do.  I sometimes have this going on in my mind when I read something in Scripture and don’t totally understand it, but I can say with confidence that the Lord understands it and it is there for a purpose that He may reveal to me or He may not reveal to me.  When we look at the 7th chapter of 2Samuel we see that it was the desire of David to build a temple for the Lord, but the Lord would not allow him to build that temple because he had shed much blood, but instead the Lord tells David that He would build a dynasty for David, which of course ended with the coming of Messiah, Jesus Christ to earth who reigns in heaven as King of Kings and will return to planet earth to set up a 1000 year kingdom that He will lead from Jerusalem.  The psalmist did not know all of these details because the Lord had not revealed them at that time, yet the psalmist is praising the Lord for His faithfulness for though he doesn’t understand all of what God is going to do he still puts his trust in the Lord and this can be seen in these beginning verses. 
 We see in these verses that the earth praises the Lord, and there are praises going on in heaven to the Lord.  We see a good example of this from Revelations 4-5.  We see in verse 9-13 that the psalmist speaks of things on earth that cause praise to the Lord.  Mt. Hermon is a high mountain where the headwaters of the Jordan River begin. 
 Israel is God’s chosen nation and if any people on earth have a right to praise the Lord it is them.  God had given them the holy land and a dynasty has sprung forth from David which will rule the earth, and they had the light of the holy law that God had given to them.  They had the special feast days to worship the Lord.  Yes God had given a lot to Israel and Israel has given a lot to all mankind, especially the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Word of God. 
 Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his commentary on this section these words, “In verse 18, ‘our shield’ (NASB, NIV0 refers to their king (84:9), now in captivity.  In many Jewish synagogues today, verses 15-18 are recited on their New Year’s Day after the blowing of the shofar.”
 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Praising the Lord is a very important part of worship, and even when times are not what we would want them to be it is still time to praise the Lord, and we can see this from Psalm 89, for indeed the times were not the best, but the psalmist begins this psalm with praise and knows that God is faithful.
My Steps of Faith for Today:  Knowing that God is faithful and worthy of my praise to Him teaches me to be content.
5/17/2012 9:55:47 AM