Year 2, Day 224: Psalms 89-90

Psalm 89

In my Vigor of Twelve blog, I’ve been walking through Galatians verse by verse.  We’ve just finished the part where Paul talks about Christ being Abraham’s offspring.  Then I noticed that as we turn to Psalm 89 that phrase is repeated again, but this time with David.  It’s really a subtle point, but it is a point I want to draw out today.  It’s been a while since I’ve done some deep word study.

In verse 4 of this psalm God says of His covenant to David, “I will establish your offspring forever.  I will build your throne for all generations.”  At first it sounds like a promise to the biological family of David {In other words, the Jews}.  After all, in English words like offspring – or crowd, or deer, or sheep – are words that are called “Mass Nouns” or “Uncountable Nouns.”  They can talk about an individual or a collective.  We can’t tell by the spelling; we must look at context to decide just how many people are involved.  Fortunately, this is not true about Greek and Hebrew.  Plural nouns and singular nouns have completely different endings, so they are utterly distinguishable.

Thus, we note in the original language that the noun is singular.  Literally, the psalmist is talking about a singular offspring – and this might be why so many translations go with “descendant” here instead of “offspring.”  This is why Paul can say what he says in the book of Galatians about the promises made to Abraham {and by inference, David} being made to a single true spiritual descendant: Christ.  Therefore the promises made to the offspring – or descendant – of Abraham and David are made to Christ.  This means that those promises and covenants apply to those who are spiritually in Christ.  {For the record, this same point is also true about the reference to David’s offspring in verse 36.}

Thus we can look at this verse in the psalm and hear the psalmist speaking through the Spirit to a time of anticipation.  The anticipation is the coming of the one true spiritual descendant and the building up of His throne forever.  We have a name for this spiritual descendant: Christ.  We have spiritually been called to be welcomed into His kingdom and the building up of His throne forever.  In this psalm, God is about more than just honoring the Jews.  In fact, He isn’t about that at all.  The psalmist is anticipating the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of His covenant to that Messiah.

Let’s quickly turn to the rest of the psalm.  There is a neat dynamic here.  First, we see this promise to the descendant of David lead to the praising of God’s name.  Who is greater than God?  Who set the world in motion?  Who called north and south to be what they are?  Who alone always knows what is happening in the sea, on the ground, and in the heavens?  God’s name should be praised!

Then the psalm turns to a plea to God to not forget His promise.  As I listen to the plea, mindful of what I know about Christ to which the psalmist did not have access when he wrote the psalm, I must answer the plea with a single spiritual piece of advice.  God will remember His covenant that He made with those who are spiritual and are obedient to His ways.  He has given grace to us; we must repent and receive it.  We must live as though He is our God.  Then we can absolutely live in confidence that He will not abandon us!

Psalm 90

Psalm 90 is a neat psalm with a fourfold progression of purpose.  The first part of the psalm is set to remind us and God of just how great He is and how much His name deserves to be praised.  He is everlasting.  He is present as generation after generation of human beings pass before His presence.  He is constant, steadfast, faithful, dependable, and true.

The second portion of this psalm turns us to consider ourselves.  We are swept away by God’s wrath.  In other words, because of our sinfulness we deserve condemnation.  Even the things that we do in secret are known in His presence.  Even though we know this, we as human beings have difficulty remembering this fact.  Even though we know that God knows everything and we will be held accountable, we still choose to sin.  We don’t have the power to do choose otherwise.

The third portion of the psalm is a plea to God to teach us to abide in ways that are different than our nature.  If our nature is destructive, then we should desire to live in a different nature!  We need to know that this other nature can only come from God and through obedience to His ways.  If there is to be meaning in life, it must be meaning that is derived from God’s nature rather than our own.

The last point of this psalm turns us and reminds us once more how glorious God is.  It is His glory that works in us.  It is His work that is meaningfully shown to the world.  It is His favor that makes any difference at all.

I find it neat to look at these progressive psalms.  They help provide balance and structure to life.  We begin by looking at God’s qualities.  That helps us see ourselves as we truly are, not as we would blindly see ourselves.  That helps us genuinely desire change in who we are.  That helps us remember how great the Lord actually is.  This is a pattern I know I can appreciate more in my life!

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