Psalm 89:1-52

This Psalm starts with a promise to praise the name of the Lord forever, and it ends with a promise to praise the Lord forever.  However, in between the beginning and end, especially the last third of the Psalm there is a great questioning as to how long the Lord would allow His children to suffer.  There are times when it is easy to praise the Lord because of His greatness and His faithfulness.  There are also times when it is not so easy to praise the Lord because of the suffering that we are called to face or even the discipline that the Lord may need to exact upon us because of our disobedience.  The challenge for us is to continually praise Him no matter what circumstances we find ourselves.  Our commitment to praise the Lord needs to be a lifelong commitment that is not dependent upon the circumstances that we face.

THE PRAISE OF GOD: There are numerous reasons that should constantly motivate us to praise the Lord and pass our knowledge of His greatness on to the generations that follow ours.  He is faithful, His love is steadfast, He keeps His promises and He will never fail.  There is no other person or god who can compare to Him.  His greatness and majesty should inspire us to praise Him as well as cause us to fear His greatness.  God is in control of every aspect of the world, from the raging sea, all the nations of the world, the highest heavens, from north to south to east to west God is in control.  His mighty hand and His justice are evidenced in all the world.  It is a great blessing to be able to walk in the light of His glory and praise His holy name in all generations.

THE PROMISES OF GOD: This great and wonderful God has made glorious promises to His people.  He has promised to help the nation Israel and has promised to establish the throne of David forever.  He has promised protection from the many enemies that would assault His children.  He has promised to give the nation victory over their enemies.  The people will praise the Lord and recognize that God is their salvation.  However, if the people that God had chosen do not follow the law of the Lord and disobey Him He promised to punish them but even though the punishment would be severe, God has promised not to remove His love from the nation, He has promised to be faithful to them and keep all His promises.  God will not lie, cannot lie and all of His promises will be kept.


THE PUNISHMENT OF GOD: Unfortunately, the people were not faithful to God as He was to them and they did violate the law of God and turned to worship the gods of other nations.  As promised, God punished them severely.  The wrath of God was evidenced against His people.  The walls of the cities were torn down.  The wealth of the people was taken as plunder.  The enemies that were defeated became victorious over the people and Israel was taken captive.  Shame was a part of the nation’s existence and the wrath of God was upon them in great and terrible ways.  God’s punishment may cause them to question God’s love and faithfulness and may cause the nations to believe that they are stronger than God, but both are mistaken.  God’s promises will be kept, the punishment will come to an end and God will restore His people and punish the nations that blasphemed His name.  God will remember and restore so we must praise the name of the Lord forever no matter what our current circumstances may be. 

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