Prepared for Psalms Group, February 7, 2021
Psalm 89 is a royal psalm based on the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:8-16). Psalm 89:1-37 is a hymn of praise for YHWH’s covenant love and faithfulness; Psalm 89:38-52 is a community lament for YHWH’s apparent failure to keep these promises. Notice the word used in the plural in 89:1 and 89:49 to describe these promises:
Teach Us to Number Our Days
He Will Not Forsake His Saints
This is a community lament.
More than 1/3 of the Psalms fall into the category of complaints to God in situations of limitation or threat. These laments were a form of prayer and praise based on the conviction that God is concerned about people and answers the human cry in ways surpassing human expectation or understanding. Israel’s laments out of distress were a way of praising God even when he seemed absent. The faith of the psalmists is founded on the good news that God intervenes in desperate situations to help those who are distressed. The psalmists share a deep confidence that God is compassionate, concerned, hearing his people and involved with them; God is faithful and trustworthy. A lament is an outcry to God from a responsive heart. Laments came from individuals or from the community.
Examples: Psalms 3-5, 22, 27:7-14, 42, 51, 69, 90, 130, 137 and many others
Eph. 5:15-17; Col. 3:23-24
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90
Domine, refugium
1 Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or the earth and the world were made, *
you are God from everlasting, and world without end.
3 You turn man back to the dust; *
you say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, *
even as a day that is past.
5 You scatter them as a night-watch that comes quickly to an end; *
they are even as a dream and fade away.
6 They are like the grass, which in the morning is green, *
but in the evening is dried up and withered.
7 For we consume away in your displeasure *
and are afraid at your wrathful indignation.
8 You have set our misdeeds before you, *
and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 For when you are angry, all our days are gone; *
we bring our years to an end, as a tale that is told.
10 The days of our life are seventy years, and though some be so strong that they come to eighty years, *
yet is their span but labor and sorrow; so soon it passes away, and we are gone.
11 But who regards the power of your wrath, *
and who considers the fierceness of your anger?
12 So teach us to number our days, *
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Turn again, O Lord, and tarry not; *
be gracious unto your servants.
14 O satisfy us with your mercy in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Comfort us again, according to the measure of the days that you have afflicted us, *
and for the years in which we have suffered adversity.
16 Show your servants your work *
and their children your glory.
17 And may the grace of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands; O prosper our handiwork.