Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 88 ended on the note, “Darkness is my closest friend.” Today, let’s consider Psalm 89, which also ends in an unresolved state, saying,
    How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? (v. 46)
    Where is your former great love,
      which in your faithfulness you swore to David? (v. 49). 

The poet’s problem is that God promised David his heirs would rule forever on the throne of Israel. But at the time the poet was writing, the kingship of Israel and the Davidic line had been demolished in the brutal march of history. God’s love and faithfulness disappeared. His unconditional promise to David has failed.  

Let’s see how the poet came to this painful conclusion. He doesn’t start the psalm in despair, but with a song of praise:
    I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
      I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
    I will declare that your love stands firm forever (vv. 1-2a). 

The poet praises the forever love of God, and then continues with God’s forever promise to David. God said:
        I have sworn to David my servant,
    “I will establish your line forever
        and make your throne firm through all generations” (vv. 3a-4). 
Certainly, no sign here of disappearing love and faithfulness!

The poet goes on to recount how God stilled the primal waters of chaos, creating the world and everything in it. God continued to be the strong king. ruling over earth, sitting on his throne of righteousness and justice, ruling with love and faithfulness (vv. 9-18). The poet loves this grand picture of God on the throne. This is how history is supposed to work out.

And then God made his good creation even better by choosing David as king of Israel, and promising to love David and support his kingship by:
-crushing his enemies (v. 22-23)
-expanding his territory (v. 25)
-and making David the greatest king in all the earth (v. 27)

And God went even further. promising that David’s heirs would be kings of Israel as long as the sun and moon endure (vv. 36-37). 

And to cap off the enduring promise, God added a clause about what he would do if David’s sons failed to worship God and keep his laws. God said he would punish the evildoers, but he would ensure David’s kingly line continued (vv. 30-35). This completes the poet’s joy. God made an unbreakable and forever promise to David. What’s left to say? What could possibly go wrong?

Then, unexpectedly, out of the blue, the poet’s glad recital turns to bitter recrimination. He turns from looking at God and God’s promise to looking at current events. And what he sees discredits all God’s promises, and all his faithfulness and love. He says to God,
    But you have rejected, you have spurned,
        you have been angry with your anointed one,
    You have renounced the covenant with your servant,
          you have defiled his crown in the dust (vv. 38-39).
      You have. . .cast his throne to the ground (v. 44).  
      You have exalted his foes;
          you have made all his enemies rejoice (v. 42).

So much for the poet’s joy. Now he asserts that God has been unfaithful. The poet says that the disappearance of the Davidic line was no accident of history, nor a coincidence of evolution, nor a failure of military strength. It is God who guides the events of history, it is God made the unbreakable promise to David. So it’s his fault that promise lies broken, that David’s throne is cast down and his line has ended. The orderly, reliable, loving world God made has turned to darkness and chaos. What is God doing? Where has he disappeared to?

Let’s pray. 

Our father, like the poet, we live by a clear promise of the everlasting rule of our king, who is Christ, an heir of David. But when we look at two thousand years of history or even a week of current events, we do not see his kingdom. We see earthly powers rise and fall, we see justice and mercy fail. We feel the absence of Christ and the chaos of the world. With the poet, we pray, 
   Lord, where is your great love?
      Where is your promise that Christ will reign on earth?

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 88 is one of the darkest psalms. Most complaint psalms move forward from a statement of deep trouble to a place of hope and trust. Psalm 22, for example, begins, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and moves toward the thought, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord” (v. 27).  

But Psalm 88 moves in the opposite direction, starting with “Lord, you are the God who saves me” (v. 1), and ending on the despairing note,
    You have taken from me friend and neighbour–
      darkness is my closest friend (v. 18). 

My spiritual director, who experienced dark years with debilitating health problems, said that at one low point in her life, Psalm 88 was her greatest comfort. When her life was all darkness and no light, the words “darkness is my closest friend” gave her permission to remain quietly in that place, not seeking desperately for answers, not searching hopelessly for light, not complaining bitterly to God, just waiting quietly in darkness and pain. 

Author John Monbourquette captures some of this in his book, How to Befriend your Shadow (Darton Longman and Todd: Ottawa, 2001). He says many people spend their lives fighting the shadow side of their experience and treating it as the enemy. For some, the shadow is sinful temptations, evil fantasies, unholy urges. For those who want to appear strong and competent, the fearful shadow may be weakness and vulnerability. Monbourquette suggests that we not fight the shadow, but befriend it, recognizing it as part of who we are. We can listen to what it tells us without acting out every urge. Instead of avoiding and suppressing and denying the darkness,we can receive it and learn from it.  

Sometimes our Christian experience is like the disciples on the stormy lake, rowing endlessly through the night without reaching land. There is a spiritual gift for us in receiving this experience, in befriending the darkness as we row through our night, waiting and hoping for God’s deliverance.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, in his poem The Hound of Heaven, Frances Thompson paints you as a hound dog, tracking him as he escapes into pleasure, human friendship, and nature. In the end when you catch him, he lies naked and vulnerable in the dark, no longer able to run, fearful as he waits the stroke of your punishment. But unexpectedly, he encounters your love, and says of his darkness:
    Is my gloom after all
    Shade of his hand outstretched caressingly?  (lines 179-180). 

Ah Lord, that is what we long for. To know we live in the shadow of your loving hand. To know that when  we experience your absence, when we are tired of running, when darkness is all about us, our gloom is the shadow of your hand, stretched out above us in love. 

We bring to you the darkness we feel today.
– We row at night through a COVID pandemic, not knowing how or when we will reach land.
– We enter another long dark winter, where health care and economics are stressed.
– Hurricanes batter the Carribean, an earthquake shakes Turkey, a divisive election disrupts the United States, a typhoon wreaks destruction on the Philippines. Everywhere the world descends into darkness. 

As Paul said, “Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but . . . against the powers of this dark world.” O father, as we feel ourselves sinking, we with the Psalm 88, “Darkness is our closest friend”, for we know that even darkness will reveal your presence to us. With Frances Thompson, we believe that our gloom is shade of your hand, outstretched caressingly. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 87 is a fascinating but enigmatic poem, about the City of Jerusalem. At this point in the Psalms, Jerusalem is frequently mentioned as a city destroyed by the Babylonians, mourned by the Israelites, mocked by the nations, and ignored by God. 

But in Psalm 87, there is no hint of the destruction. Instead, Jerusalem is the city God loves and favors, almost like a summer cottage on a granite rock, caressed by gentle lake breezes, protected by a forest of evergreen trees. a place of glory and sunshine and life, God’s home on earth. 

This psalm is also amazing for the place it assigns to the nations of the earth. In the poem, God does a brief roll call of nations that have been Israel’s enemies: cruel world-dominating empires like Egypt and Babylon; smaller and closer enemies like Philistia and Tyre; and even the distant Ethiopia, .

God does not threaten these nations with judgement and destruction. Instead he calls them to become citizens of his favorite city, Jerusalem. He says, “They were born here”–that is, they have the same rights of citizenship as native-born Israelites. In our world today, we see nations and rulers making laws that exclude foreigners and undocumented aliens and people from terrorist countries. But in this psalm, King God sends a worldwide invitation for nations to become members of his city and citizens of his kingdom.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, Psalm 87 pictures you, the creator of all, welcoming the nations into your kingdom. Nations that have warred against you, who have killed your people, taken captives, and destroyed your city and your temple.

In many psalms, your people ask you to take vengeance on their enemies, but in this psalm you show a heart of reconciliation and peace to every nation. Here you begin to undo the work of the tower of Babel–the confusion of tongues and the scattering of nations. 

O God, we pray today that you will work among our modern nations.
– Heal the hermit kingdom, North Korea.
– Bring your rule to a restored yet corrupt Russia.
– Bring the citizenship of your city to war-shattered Syria.
– Bring peace to the violent nation of Israel.
– Bring hope and land to the Palestinians.
– Bring justice to all refugees of war and violence.
– Bring truth to the United States.
– Bring wisdom to Canada as our politicians descend again into pettiness and foolishness.

O God, make of the nations one kingdom, ruled by your son, speaking the language of peace, paying allegiance to your rule and your fatherhood. 

And may we share the poet’s song, “All my fountains are in you” (v. 7). Yes, the fountains of life are not in the things we own, or the nations we conquer, or the temples we build; they are found in the city of God, in the place where you dwell on earth.  

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.