Broken Promises?

I was already fighting for my Christmas cheer when I walked into the store. The new lights I had strung across my house ten days earlier had gone out. Happily, I had kept my receipt, and the light spool had a giant “5” printed on it, as in “Five Year Warranty.” So I lugged the ladder back out, unstrung the lights, gathered my documents, and was now at the customer service desk. But the woman informed me that she couldn’t exchange my lights; they had been outdoors. I sweetly mentioned that these were, in fact, “outdoor lights”—but more importantly, there was my 5-year warranty. I displayed my spool with a confident smile. “Oh no, that’s the manufacturer’s warranty,” she explained, “we can’t do anything about that.” I was shocked. “Ma’am, you want me to call General Electric about my Christmas lights?” My confidence was crumbling. “Sir, I’m not telling you to do anything. I just can’t exchange your lights.” I walked away with my broken lights, feeling very cheated. That big “5” on the spool seemed to mock me.

Ramp up that feeling of disappointment and deception by about a billion, and you will understand where Ethan the psalmist is coming from when he prays in v38: “But now.” He’s saying, “God, that promise you made to David raised certain expectations for my life. But now I’m living something totally different.” You see if Psalm 89 were a movie, the director would have kept the camera in tight on Ethan, praising God with a big smile, during vv1–37. Now v38 zooms out and shows that Ethan is praying in a pile of rubble. Jerusalem is a smoking ruin.

And David’s supposedly “forever” throne is empty, knocked over, and covered in graffiti. It’s like when George Bailey comes home expecting Bedford Falls and finds Pottersville. Ethan is praying Psalm 89 after Jerusalem falls to Babylon (2 Kings 24). Enemies have pulled King Jehoiachin, the son of David, off his throne, put him in chains and prison clothes, and marched him off to exile. That is the current status of God’s anointed one! What happened to the promise?

Ethan in vv38–45 says, ‘God, you’re doing literally the opposite of what you promised!’ “But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced your covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached his walls; you have laid his stronghold in ruins…” Notice how personal Ethan makes this: six times he accuses God with the word “you.” God, you did this. You said you loved your anointed forever. But he’s picking up trash in an orange jumpsuit! And our kids are speaking Babylonian! It’s not supposed to be this way!

So in v46, Ethan unloads his painful questions: “How long, O Yahweh? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” In vv47–48, he says I’m wasting my life away, waiting on you to act. “Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!” He feels like the popular meme of the skeleton sitting on the park bench, waiting on God to fix his situation. In vv49–51, he uses one hand to hold open his Bible with and the other to point to his miserable life: “Where is your steadfast love and faithfulness you swore to David?” Can’t you see your enemies following your anointed around, mocking him, insulting him, clowning on him and us? When will you act?

Psalm 89 is in the minor-key, but it is essential to Christmas. It’s the pain-filled prayer of God’s people just before Jesus comes. It’s not as happy as “O Come All Ye Faithful.” But God’s people need it in our bones; at some point, we’ll feel this pain, too. Tomorrow, we’ll learn how to hope, and to wait, even as we sing in the minor key.

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church