the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Psalms 89:30-52
The promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7:13 and recalled in vv. 4, 28 of our reading are qualified by one condition: if his descendants commit iniquity God will not fail to chastise them (vv. 30-32; 2 Samuel 7:14). Alas! we know the subsequent sad history of this royal family of Judah, and vv. 38 and following show us that in this chastisement, God kept His word. All Israel’s trials, including the tribulation which still awaits them, are the consequence of this unfaithfulness.
The worst of all sorrows for believers is the shame and disgrace which reflects on their God (vv. 41, 45, 50, 51). "How long . . .?" (v. 46); how many times already we have heard this cry of anguish in the psalms (e.g. Psalms 74:10; Psalms 79:5; Psalms 80:4 . . .) Time seems long to the one who is suffering (Job 7:3-4). In response to this cry the LORD will temper His judgment; "a short work will the Lord make on the earth" (Romans 9:28; Mark 13:20). For chastisement is not His last word. Isaiah 28:21 calls it "his strange work, . . . his strange act." According to His same promise, God will make His people rejoice in His loving-kindness for ever in Christ, the Son of David (v. 49; 2 Samuel 7:15 . . .).
(The final section on the Psalms is in Year 5.)
