IT'S IN WRITING

¹I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. ²Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens. ³The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with David, my chosen servant. I have sworn this oath to him: ⁴‘I will establish your descendants as kings forever; they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’” ⁵All heaven will praise your great wonders, Lord; myriads of angels will praise you for your faithfulness. ⁶For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? ⁷The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. ⁸O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.Psalm 89:1-8

You can learn a lot about a person by the way he or she keeps or breaks promises. Each promise kept endears that person to you proves the person’s character to you, and builds trust between you. On the other hand, each promise broken disappoints you, makes you wonder about the person’s character, and breaks down trust between you.

Psalm 89 celebrates some of the promises of the greatest promise keeper of all—God. The promises he keeps here have not only endeared him to the writer of this psalm but should also endear him to us.

Notice also the fulfilled promises in other psalms from this reading—promises of blessing, restoration, and answered prayer.

God promised that he would preserve David’s throne (Psalm 89:29). Even though Israel disobeyed God almost continually throughout its history, God promised to never fail his pledge to David (89:33). Through God’s patient reminders and warnings, a small portion, or “remnant” of God’s people always remained faithful to him. Centuries later, the Messiah arrived, the eternal King from David’s line, just as God had promised.

We all have worries, some great, some small, and some just plain bothersome. Yet we can trust God to help us overcome our worries because he has taken care of our biggest worry—sin. God can be trusted to save us as he promised he would (see Hebrews 6:13-18).

God is completely reliable. Trust him in times of trouble. Relax in the security that God always keeps his promises.