Psalm 89:20-37
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Object:
What a beautiful thing is rendered here. A covenant made and kept. A promise uttered and maintained. God's faithfulness to the line of David is unalterable. Promises kept are powerful things, aren't they? It's been told to many a child by parents and caregivers that a person's word is their bond. Think about the people we trust the most in our lives. They are inevitably the ones who keep their word. The need to keep our promises is one of the things that literally makes life possible. The glue of culture, in fact, is the ability to trust that people will do what they say they will do.
The mechanic who says he will fix your car, the person who says they will pay you for services rendered, the employer who promises a pension plan and health insurance. We need to trust in promises such as these, or none of us are going to do very well. Indeed, it can be said, with little fear of contradiction, that the sense of faltering we feel in our culture today is linked in no small way to the dissolution of this concept.
It could be argued that we have, as a people, abandoned the notion of commitment. No longer must we do what we say we will do. From the vapid promises of politicians to marriage vows to workplace commitments and back again, we have fallen into the murky shadows of situational ethics. We have heard it before. "I meant it when I said it ... but ... well ... things have changed." The fact that a promise was made didn't change. The reality of a covenant made in marriage isn't changed because a man in mid-life turmoil seeks a younger woman to try to beat back the march of time.
This abandonment of commitment seeps into relationships where people refuse to make a "commitment." It even pervades the life of the church, where few people commit these days to leadership roles or things that mean they will have to follow through and be present.
A sociologist may well argue the point, but for people of faith this much remains. We exist as a people because of a promise made and kept. Consider the words of Jeremiah: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). This covenant, or contract, followed up so marvelously by the new covenant in Christ, makes us who we are. It is promises made and kept that give us our very identity. So read this psalm with reverence. Absorb these words as a signpost and reminder that we are who we are because of promises made and kept.
The mechanic who says he will fix your car, the person who says they will pay you for services rendered, the employer who promises a pension plan and health insurance. We need to trust in promises such as these, or none of us are going to do very well. Indeed, it can be said, with little fear of contradiction, that the sense of faltering we feel in our culture today is linked in no small way to the dissolution of this concept.
It could be argued that we have, as a people, abandoned the notion of commitment. No longer must we do what we say we will do. From the vapid promises of politicians to marriage vows to workplace commitments and back again, we have fallen into the murky shadows of situational ethics. We have heard it before. "I meant it when I said it ... but ... well ... things have changed." The fact that a promise was made didn't change. The reality of a covenant made in marriage isn't changed because a man in mid-life turmoil seeks a younger woman to try to beat back the march of time.
This abandonment of commitment seeps into relationships where people refuse to make a "commitment." It even pervades the life of the church, where few people commit these days to leadership roles or things that mean they will have to follow through and be present.
A sociologist may well argue the point, but for people of faith this much remains. We exist as a people because of a promise made and kept. Consider the words of Jeremiah: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). This covenant, or contract, followed up so marvelously by the new covenant in Christ, makes us who we are. It is promises made and kept that give us our very identity. So read this psalm with reverence. Absorb these words as a signpost and reminder that we are who we are because of promises made and kept.
