Psalm 89

Royal (earthly king)

            You Afflict Me Because of Your Covenant

            33 “But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,

            Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.

·         Many a sorrowing child of God has had his gloom, like the evil spirit of Saul, quite removed by the harp of David.

·         Mercy’s work, though to us sometimes apparently slow, is very sure and glorious. God’s plans reach from an eternity past to an eternity to come. Let him take his own time.

·         God loves his people too well and too wisely not to make them smart for their sins.

·         Nor is it wicked to tell God our perplexities, and plead for speedy relief. . . . Let us plead for a better insight into the nature of the covenant, and the ends of the discipline we are made to undergo. Let us plead the unchangeableness of divine grace and of the divine faithfulness.

·         [The darkness of providence] greatly tempts our faith, which would utterly fail, if it were not for the intercessions of Christ (Luke 22:31-32).

·         That is a blessed anguish, and those are good crosses, which make us the more fervent in our prayers.