The blessed people
[Psalms 89:1-18]
What is a blessed family? Of course, in the dictionary sense, we can say that the blessed family is a wealthy family. However, is the wealth family the blessed Christian family that the Bible speaks of? If we look at Psalms 1:, the Bible says “How blessed is the man …” (v. 1) whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night” (v. 2). The family that meditates on the Word of God day and night is the blessed family. The family that knows God by meditating on the Word of God is the blessed family.
Nowadays, while thinking about the “heritage of faith”, God is teaching me once again how important it is to teach the knowledge to my children and future descendants. In particular, while meditating on Judges 2:7, 10 at the early morning prayer meeting last week, I couldn't help thinking about the difference between the generation who knew God and the generation who didn’t know God: “The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. … All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” Although the Israelites served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel, after all of the people of that generation died, the other generations who didn’t know God and what He had done for Israel, they eventually committed evil and sinned against God (vv. 11ff.). That’s how much knowing God is very important. And it is really important that we and our children know what God did in the lives of our ancestors. Therefore, we must teach. We must tell our children who God is. And we must share with them what God has done in our lives. When we do so, our families, families of our children, and our descendants will all be blessed by the Lord.
In Psalms 89:15, the psalmist said “How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!. ” Here, “the joyful sound” refers to the good news that God saves us (Park). Those who have received this good news are truly blessed. Today, I want to meditate on five things about what kind of God the blessed people look and depend on under the title of “The blessed people”. By doing so, I hope and pray that we not only hear the good news of His salvation in faith, but also we become the blessed people who experience His salvation.
First, the God whom the blessed people look upon and trust in is God of the lovingkindness.
Look at Psalms 89:1a, 2a, 14 – “I will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever … For I have said, "Lovingkindness will be built up forever … Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.” The psalmist is determined to sing and praise God's lovingkindness forever and forever. Why was he determined to praise God's lovingkindness forever? The reason was because the psalmist believed that God would act lovingly toward His people forever (Park). Then how did God show His lovingkindness to Hi people? He chose us in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 3: “"I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant.” We have become ‘God's elect’ (“My chosen”) because of God's eternal love. Of course, Psalms 89:3 refers to God's servant David. But in the light of Ephesians 1:4, we are God's chosen people in His eternal love. Therefore, as those chosen by God, we must trust in God's lovingkindness (v. 14, Park). The life of trusting in God's lovingkindness is to believe, experience, and live the fact that God loves us even to the point of giving His begotten Son for our salvation (Jn. 3:16). Since we are the ones who have experienced the love of Jesus on the cross and have conviction that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8), we must live by trusting in His eternal lovingkindness.
Second, the God whom the blessed people look upon and trust in is faithful God.
Look at Psalms 89:1b, 2b, 5, 8 – “… To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth. … In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness. … The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. … O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.” The faithful God the psalmist trusted in is the God who faithfully fulfills the covenant toward the people He chose in eternal love (Park). Although His chosen Israelites destroy the covenant they made with God, the faithful God keeps the covenant faithfully. God's faithfulness never changes. The reason is because it is steadily implemented in the heaven where there is no unrest (Park). God made the covenant with his servant David, who was chosen by God in His love, and swore to him: “I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations." Selah” (v. 4). This word of God's oath is based on 2 Samuel 7:16, the covenant word that God gave to David through the prophet Nathan: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” This covenant, in fact, foretold the blessings of worldwide salvation that will be revealed through Christ (Isa. 55:3-5) (Park). Our God, who faithfully fulfills the covenant, has saved us and is still saving His chosen people in Jesus Christ with His unchanging faithfulness, that is, with His perfect faithfulness (Isa. 25:1). Therefore, like the psalmist, we must make known God’s faithfulness to all generations with our mouths (Ps. 89:1). In other words, we must praise the faithfulness of the Lord (v. 5). This reminds me the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness”: “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father/ There is no shadow of turning with Thee/ Thou changest not, Thy compassions, They fail not/ As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be/ Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!/ Morning by morning new mercies I see/ All I have needed Thy hand hath provided/ Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!” (v. 1 & chorus).
Third, the God whom the blessed people look upon and trust in is the Creator God.
Look at Psalms 89:12 – “The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.” This means that God not only created all the regions of the nation of Israel, but also Mount Tabor (mountain in Judah) and Mount Hermon (mountain in the region of Syria) that are far apart from each other are also God's creations. In other words, it means that there isn’t any area that God didn’t create (Park). The God who created this heaven and earth made the Israelites, His chosen ones, to cross the Red Sea like dry land to save them from Egypt (vv. 9-10). In other words, God the Creator also worked on the sea, making the Red Sea like land and allowed the Israelites to cross safely. About this God, this is what the psalmist confessed: “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them” (v. 11). The God of salvation he depended on is the God who built all the worlds. That's right. The God of our salvation is the Creator God. Just as God saved the Israelites at the time of the Exodus from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army even by controlling the nature, even now, God is moving the nature in His providence in order to save His chosen people. Therefore, like the psalmist, we must rejoice in the God of salvation and in the name of the Creator God. In other words, we must praise the name of our Creator God. This reminds me the hymn “How Great Thou Art”: “O, Lord my God! When I in awesome won-der/ consider all the worlds Thy hands have made/ I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder/ Thy power through out the universe displayed/ Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee/ How great Thou art, how great Thou art!/ Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee/ How great Thou art, how great Thou art!” (v. 1 & chorus).
Fourth, the God whom the blessed people look upon and trust in is Almighty God.
Look at Psalms 89:6, 8a, 10, 13 – “For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD, … O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD? … You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. … You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.” The God of our salvation is Almighty God. He is the God who can deliver us from trouble. He is the God who scatters the enemies of the Lord with His mighty hand and a strong arm (v. 10) and saves His people. For example, at the time of the Exodus, God destroyed all the Egyptians in the Red Sea and delivered the Israelites. The Israelites experienced the power of God the Creator who created the heavens and the earth. They experienced His saving power. So the psalmist confessed: “For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted” (v. 17). This means that the Lord is the source of our boastful power (Park). Our Lord is the source of our strength. From Him we are empowered. We are blessed because the Lord is the glory of our strength. We are the blessed people who experience God's saving power.
Fifth and last, the God whom the blessed people look upon and trust in is the Holy God.
Look at Psalms 89:18 – “For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.” The psalmist says that the king of Israel belongs to the holy Lord. And he confesses that the Holy God is the "shield" for Israel. That holy God is the shield of the Israelites and protects them from their enemies. Furthermore, the Holy God is the God who judges the wicked. That Holy God is the God who saves us from the wicked. He also loves us, but His love is holy love. He is the God who disciplines us with the bonds of love when we sin against Him. He is also faithful God who disciplines us with His love. That God is the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth, and He is the God who reveals His holiness to us and to the wicked. We who look to Him and trust in Him are the blessed people.
I thought about these words today while praying at the early morning prayer meeting. At the same time, I heard the joyful sound, that is, the earnest heart to hear the good news that God saves us, while I was praying for the brothers and sisters in Christ. If only I could hear the good news that the Lord saves and delivers. As we pray for our loved ones tonight, let's pray earnestly together, ‘God, help us to be blessed.’ Let's pray to our God together, saying, 'God, I want to hear the news that you will save us,’ and ‘God deliver us.’
Desperately wanting to hear the joyful sound,
James Kim
(After praising “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and after praying with brothers and sisters in Christ, in the pastoral room of Victory Presbyterian Church)