Living a Big Story – Psalm 89

A text – Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18

¹ I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
² I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
    your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

³ You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to my servant David:
⁴ ‘I will establish your descendants forever
    and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah

¹⁵ Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
    who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance;
¹⁶ they exult in your name all day long
    and extol your righteousness.
¹⁷ For you are the glory of their strength;
    by your favor our horn is exalted.
¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the Lord,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.

A reflection:

This psalm is actually quite long. We have only the beginning joyous section for our reading this week. The ending is an utter lament, because everything beautiful being praised in these early verses is being torn apart. The kingdom, the victories, the forever covenant are overturned when the Babylonians destroy Israel and take most of its people into exile around 586 BC. Our section for this week is a song of the heights of the good old days, before those things happened.

The Jewish people had a wealth of poetry and song and historical tales that helped them keep and tend their story. Since many of them worshiped regularly and even went to Torah school, they could hardly keep from memorizing the verses and recognizing them when they were spoken or sung. Today we know less about keeping and tending to our story and our traditions. We might be more likely to recognize someone using a tag line from a popular sitcom than someone quoting a Bible verse or a story. How many of us can recite or recognize even a short psalm?

If this psalm was written during the biggest upheaval Israel had ever experienced, when they were wondering whether God had forgotten all the promises of the covenant made with King David, why do we have this jubilant language about how glorious and steadfast and faithful God is? I can only guess, but I think that, in both triumph and tragedy, in good times and in the lowest of low bad times, God’s people did believe God was faithful and walked beside them, no matter what or where or when. They lived in hope that their lives would be restored by a powerful and loving God.

There are plenty of good times for us, but plenty of bad times, too. My prayer this week is that we remember that, in the bad times, when we struggle to see anything good, let alone God, in fact God is still beside us and has not left us to suffer alone. Our God is forever. We can trust God through all our life and also through all generations.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our God for all generations. Help us to remember that your promises to Israel are also promises to us, your adopted children. We can believe just as truly in you and anyone anytime in our world. Amen.