“My faithfulness and My steadfast love shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” Psalm 89:24-27
Devotional Thought For The Day
The psalmist continues to review the wondrous and glorious promises God established with the house of David – which find their ultimate fulfillment in David’s greatest Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. These promises – of faithfulness and steadfast love, of exaltation and preeminence and ascendency – all apply to all of the people of God, God’s dear people of faith who have been born again and made children of God [John 1:12,13]. They are already fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, His suffering and death, His resurrection and ascension, His ongoing rule and reign over all things, and will culminate completely on the Last Day when He comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. This we celebrated with great joy and high delight this past Sunday – and we must not forget these realities, regardless of how dark and dismal things appear to be.
The struggle is to integrate time, God’s strategy, His discipline, temporal consequences of sin and wretched rebellion against God, into these assurances of God’s Word. This is the angst and trial of the psalmist, which we are invited to contemplate. No mere human being is capable of doing this fully and completely, at least not with the limitations that we suffer in this fallen life of sin. So faith is always required – faith in God’s faithfulness and steadfast love, faith in His awesome and complete power, faith in His wisdom and discretion, faith in His Word of revelation [Holy Scripture, the Bible]. Such faith also produces and inculcates patience and perseverance, willingness to suffer trial, tribulation, privation and persecution. The outcome of such faith is the experience of God’s grace being ever sufficient for us, and our ultimate vindication – either in death or at His glorious return. The struggles of the psalmist, of David, of His offspring, of the Lord Jesus Christ, are also our struggles and challenges of faith and trust in God.
By the grace of God, through His Word, by the power of His Holy Spirit at work in our hearts and minds through His Word and Sacrament, we remain blessed children of God no matter what we may be experiencing, what we may have to endure in this world; we continue to cry out to God, the LORD, the only True and Living God: “You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.” We do so each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, each time we gather for worship, as we hear His absolution, meditate upon His Word, receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, and cast all of our cares and concerns upon Him in prayer. In time, just as with the Lord Jesus Christ, we too shall be exalted with Him, in His glorious heavenly kingdom. These realities, God’s grace and faithfulness to us, enable us to persist and persevere in faith and faithfulness to God even in the darkest of circumstances – just as we observe the psalmist doing in this psalm.
Things may seem dismal – we are warned that challenges to the church and Christianity will grow more dire and dangerous in the latter days. No matter – we have the Words and Promises of God, and we have the Lord Jesus Christ, our wonderful Redeemer and Savior – and in His Name our strength [horn] will also be exalted! Just as Easter came suddenly and surprisingly to the disciples, so also our deliverance and glorification is not far away! So we praise Him – now, and forever!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, thanks and praise be to You for constancy, faithfulness, and love for us! Thank You for the victories of Your death and resurrection, victories which pour comfort, strength, and confidence into our lives. Bear us up with Your grace and love, that meditating upon Your Word we remain eager and expectant of Your blessing in all things. Amen.