DOES GOD BREAK HIS PROMISES?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Once You spoke in a vision, to Your faithful people You said:

“I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have raised up a young man from among the people. I have found David My servant; with My sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him. The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. My faithful love will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. He will call out to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’ And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain My love to him forever, and My covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

“If his sons forsake My law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate My decrees and fail to keep My commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take My love from him, nor will I ever betray My faithfulness. I will not violate My covenant or alter what My lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by My holiness — and I will not lie to David — that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before Me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”

But You have rejected, You have spurned, You have been very angry with Your anointed one. You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins. All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice. Indeed, You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not supported him in battle. You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with a mantle of shame.

How long, Lord? Will you hide Yourself forever? How long will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility You have created all humanity! Who can live and not see death, or who can escape the power of the grave? Lord, where is Your former great love, which in Your faithfulness you swore to David? Remember, Lord, how Your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations, the taunts with which Your enemies, Lord, have mocked, with which they have mocked every step of Your anointed one.

Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.

Psalm 89:19-52

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Does God break His promises?

That is the question at the core of the final verses of the 89th Psalm.

As you read through the Bible, you will find it full of promises that God has made to His people. He has assured us that He is with us, that He will never leave us nor forsake us, He bears our burdens with us, and that there is nothing beyond His work. Everything is possible with Him.

And yet, life has a way of wrapping us up tight in adversity and hardship, trying to squeeze the very hope right out of us. Too often, it is successful.

For there are many people in the world on any given day who doubt that God really keeps His promises. In the midst of their circumstances, they wonder if God has turned away from them, abandoning them in their time of need. They feel like they are left alone to deal with their problems and their situation seems anything but promising. Despair has a way of blocking out any light in life and encasing the suffering person in darkness and misery. Gloomy dejection serves to sap strength and energy away through stress and anxiety and worry and fear.

Left despondent, an anguished person can feel like God has let them down and gone back on His word.

We see this attitude in the psalmist within the 89th Psalm. His writing seems fine at first as he recounts God’s promises to David the anointed king of Israel. Let’s look at those words again:

“I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have raised up a young man from among the people. I have found David My servant; with My sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him. The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. My faithful love will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. He will call out to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’ And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain My love to him forever, and My covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

“If his sons forsake My law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate My decrees and fail to keep My commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take My love from him, nor will I ever betray My faithfulness. I will not violate My covenant or alter what My lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by My holiness — and I will not lie to David — that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before Me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”

In the psalmist’s interpretation, David was supposed to be excluded from trials and tribulations. After all, he had been chosen by God and anointed with sacred oil to assume the throne ruling Israel. God’s promised strength and power would be with David as he defeated all who would oppose him. God vowed to love David and ensure he would become the most exalted king of the earth. And all this, this covenant promise, would stay true and never fail. God promised as much.

But look at the end of the psalm. Is it just me or is the psalmist accusing God of falsehood, of going back on His sacred guarantee. Look at what the psalmist had to say:

But You have rejected, You have spurned, You have been very angry with Your anointed one. You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins. All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice. Indeed, You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not supported him in battle. You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with a mantle of shame.

How long, Lord? Will you hide Yourself forever? How long will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility You have created all humanity! Who can live and not see death, or who can escape the power of the grave? Lord, where is Your former great love, which in Your faithfulness you swore to David? Remember, Lord, how Your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations, the taunts with which Your enemies, Lord, have mocked, with which they have mocked every step of Your anointed one.

The accusations ring out loudly and included the following charges against God:

1. He had removed His faithfulness and love, rejecting and spurning David.

2. He had renounced His covenant that He gave to David.

3. He had defiled David’s crown and cast his throne to the ground.

4. He had committed David to ruin.

5. He had favored David’s enemies over him.

6. He had stopped supporting David and made him a disgrace.

7. He had cut short David’s days.

8. He had ordained shame to come down on David.

9. He had hidden Himself from His people in a time of need.

10. He somehow was playing a cruel joke on creation, leading them to futility instead of blessing.

There was little doubt the psalmist saw God as in absentia and caring little about His chosen people Israel.

Maybe you or someone you know has felt or is feeling this way today. Maybe you or someone you know read these words of the psalmist and say, “I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same way. I’m not sure where God is in my life but He doesn’t seem like He cares to me. I am wondering whether the words of the Bible are really true.”     

So does God break His promises?

Don’t believe that lie if you begin to consider it.

For God is truth. He never breaks His covenants. He always keeps His word. But here’s the rub with mankind:

God works in His perfect time not ours.

Friends, we need to get it into our heads that God doesn’t operate in accordance with our desires, our wills, our beckoning calls, and our impulsive needs. No, He works according His will, always knowing what is best for us. And maybe you don’t believe it, but sometimes it’s best for us to go through hardship and adversity and even face danger from time to time.

It’s easy to have faith when everything is going just right. The true testing and refining of our faith is when we go through the difficult times, the times when we have to solely rely and trust in God to help us through, even when we have to wait for it.

David was a man after God’s own heart, anointed and chosen to be king of Israel. But that didn’t give him immunity from hardship. God was always seeking to purify David’s faith just as He is ours today.

So the next time you start to think God has gone back on His promises, reject the notion and turn your eyes back on God, ever seeking Him and waiting with eager hope and anticipation for when He will work in His perfect time and in His perfect way, revealing His glory in its fullest splendor as He always does.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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