Psalm 89:42

Psalm 89:42

Who is accountable?

We have encountered the significance of the right hand before. It speaks of authority, power, governance and strength, it is the right hand of God that rises up against His enemies and that exalts the man or woman who trusts in Him. Jesus is pictured as being seated at God’s right hand, a place of exaltation and glory and to this day we use the phrase, “the right-hand man” to symbolise trust and a bond of integrity. 

It is perplexing therefore to read Ethan’s words here, for he accuses the Lord God of exalting the right hand of David’s foes! In other words, the enemies of Israel have only attained their dominance and their ascendency by virtue of the Lord’s permission. “You Lord are the one who has allowed this, you have permitted the domination of our foes, they rejoice because you have allowed them to overcome us.” There is some truth in Ethan’s complaint, nothing happens unless God allows it and He certainly allowed Babylon to conquer the land of Israel and He allowed the people to be taken captive. What Ethan does not mention is the sin, the neglect of God’s laws and the rebellion against Him that had brought the nation to this sorry state. What Ethan also failed to comprehend is that the Lord does not break His promises or renege on His Word, and He would eventually restore the people and the land that He had promised to them. 

When things are going badly it is so easy to blame the Lord and to hold Him solely accountable. What He expects is that we still believe that He will prevail and His will, will be done. We also have to look at ourselves and determine if we are responsible for what has happened. It’s a tough lesson!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more