Longing for God’s Deliverance
Have you ever been in a situation where you longed for God to intervene? Where life was rough and you cried out for God’s deliverance? That’s the situation the psalmist finds himself in with Psalm 89. However, the psalmist surprisingly does not open with his appeal for divine deliverance. Rather, he begins with a messianic psalm, singing the praises of the steadfast love of the Lord and voicing hope in God’s eternal covenant with David. Yet partway through, the tenor and tone shift dramatically, and we find ourselves amid what feels like a totally different hymn. The Davidic house has been cast off and rejected, the nation of Israel has fallen at the hands of its foes, and we come to realize that this is not primarily a messianic psalm but a powerful and effective psalm of lament—one of many such psalms that constitute the bulk of Book Three of the Psalter.
This is a beautiful psalm, full of gorgeous Hebrew poetry and simultaneously glorious and haunting themes. Since lament plays such an important part in God’s Word—and in our own lives—my goal here is not only to enable us to understand this psalm better, but also to help us comprehend how to lament better, and how to be comforted in the hope of our Messiah even in the midst of that lament.
First though, we must consider how lament is regularly part of God’s good purposes for his people in this era.
The Need for Lament
Each spring, Covenant Seminary holds a chapel service of lament in which we acknowledge and reflect on some of the stories of sorrow in our life together as a community. We do this not only because lamentation is a significant part of our experience of life in this world, but also because God knows that we need psalms of lament. He knows that life can be both joyous and hard for us. So, he invites us to bring our griefs and lament to him as we long for his deliverance. He gives us hymns to sing, both in our joy and in our sorrow. Lament, especially corporate lament, is important when we live in a time of waiting in between the promises that God has given and the ultimate fulfillment of those promises. Godly lamentation is for those long eras when we know God’s promises are true, but we don’t yet fully experience the reality of them, and we just wish that he would deliver and redeem.
Israel went through many of these eras of waiting. Think of Joseph’s story. The small band of people that we call Israel, which at that stage in Genesis was just a single family, was seeking to survive during a famine in the land. Providentially, Joseph was in Egypt ahead of his family because his brothers had tragically sold him into slavery in Egypt, where amid trial and consternation he eventually rose to be Pharaoh’s right-hand man. Then God led his people to Egypt, where they found relief from the famine through the work of that very same Joseph. However then, after 400 years of oppression at the hands of the Egyptians, the people called out to God for his deliverance. So, God brought about the great deliverance of the Exodus. Not long after that great event, of course, the people went terribly astray and a whole generation was lost during 40 years of wandering before they were allowed to enter the land of promise. They were waiting yet again.
After the conquest came the time of the Judges, with another long period of wondering when the promises of God would be fulfilled. Then we read on through the time of Saul and into the reign of David, which brought another wonderful set of promises to the Davidic king. Yet shortly after that, the kingdom of David just seemed to plummet. There are occasional bright spots, but it declined rather rapidly, with centuries of waiting, until finally there was the tragedy of the Babylonian exile. Eventually, God’s people return from exile, though there was another long wait before that happened. And after the return, a new temple was built, but it was not nearly as glorious as the one that had come before. The people had to wait again.
Finally, after more centuries pass, the Messiah comes as the incarnate Son of God, the Word of God made flesh, proclaiming the good news to the poor. He teaches, he inaugurates the kingdom and the breaking of the dominion of Satan. He casts out demons and heals disease. Then he dies and rises again, and those acts grant sure and steady salvific hope to those who follow him. However now, again, there have been 2000 years since that time of joy, and his people live in another period of waiting for his promised return.
Lament is well-suited for that sense of waiting, that sense of longing for God’s deliverance. We can all relate in some ways to the waiting and perhaps even to the trials and tribulations Israel went through. Thus we can also learn from this psalm not only how to lament, but also how to hold onto the hope we have in God’s promises. How, exactly, does this psalm help us persevere even as we long for God’s deliverance? Let us focus on three particular ways.
The Psalmist Reminds us to Sing to the Glory of GOd
First, we notice that even amid his difficulties, the psalmist proclaims the glory of God. He opens the psalm that way: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.” God’s “steadfast love” and his “faithfulness” will become running themes throughout the psalm. We encounter them again right away in verse 2 when he says, “For I said, ‘steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.’” And in verses 3–4, the psalmist reminds God (and his readers) of God’s covenant: “You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your offspring forever and build your thrones for all generations.’”
Yet, the psalmist does not stop there. In verses 5–8 he declares that God deserves our praise. He reminds us that the heavenly hosts sing to the glory of God. God created the world all around us, and he deserves all our praise. In verses nine and following, God accomplishes his mighty purposes, and he rules over the raging of the sea. In the ancient Near East, the sea was said to be almost demonic because it cannot be tamed and controlled; but the almighty God rules even over the raging sea. In verse 10, he delivers Israel in the Exodus (most commentators consider “Rahab” here a reference to Egypt). In verse 11, we are reminded that the heavens and earth—the whole universe—belong to the Lord because he created them. He possesses all of this by his mighty arm (v. 13; cf. vv. 10, 21). That is Old Testament imagery for kingship. In Egyptian literature, Pharaoh also has a strong arm. But God’s mighty arm is the one that cast out Pharaoh (cf. v. 10 and Exod. 3:19–20). And throughout the plagues on Egypt and in the Exodus, by his mighty arm God declared, “This creation belongs to me.”
God also manifests a magnificent character. In verse 14 and following we find that God is righteous and just. Again, the psalmist proclaims God’s faithfulness and steadfast love (cf. 89:1, 2, 5, 8, 24, 28, 33, 49). In verse 15, his glory exudes from the light of his face and blesses his people. Israel can exult in God’s name and his righteousness, in his glory and his strength. Then in verse 18, God is the ultimate shield for his people.
We learn from all this that, even as the psalmist longs for God’s deliverance amid the horrors of this world, he first reminds himself and the people who sing this song with him of the marvelous character of God. That is a great way for us to begin as well: whenever we are in the midst of our longing and lament, we should recall who God is and how he has blessed us. But that is only the beginning.
The Psalmist Remind us to Sing of the Promises of God
The psalmist also reminds us, amid the difficulties of our lives, to sing of God’s promises. He especially has in mind the Davidic promises, and that is what the psalm intones in verses 19 through 37. He remembers the Davidic covenant, leaning especially into its eternal character. God has promised that he will be continually faithful and that he will display to his servant David his “faithfulness” and his “steadfast love” (v. 24)—there are those theme words again!
To astute Hebrew readers in the psalmist’s time, this section would have hearkened back to 2 Samuel 7, where God establishes his covenant with David. Many of the key elements of the language used there are echoed strongly here in Psalm 89. The psalmist simply repeats back to God truths that God had previously promised, such as that David is “my servant” (cf. 2 Sam. 7:5), that God has “cut off all your enemies from before you” (2 Sam. 7:9) and “I will appoint a place for my people Israel” (2 Sam. 7:10) and that “I will give you rest from all your enemies” (2 Sam. 7:11). Finally, in 2 Samuel 7:12–13, God declares of David, “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” These are the promises of the Davidic Covenant, including that of an eternal kingdom for the house of David.
But then (rather like Psalm 89), 2 Samuel 7 takes a turn. God says, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with a rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men…” (2 Sam. 7:14a). However, then he states, “but my steadfast love will not depart from him, . . . And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:14b–16).
We hear echoes of all of this in Psalm 89. In verses 19–20, the psalmist meditates on these good promises and on the fact that God has chosen and anointed David as his servant. In verse 21, we learn that God’s strength is with David. In verses 22–23, David will overcome all of his foes, all of his enemies. In verse 24, we read again of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to David. Verse 25 envisions David ruling over expansive territory, and David has the privilege of relating to God as a son to his father (vv. 26–27). Indeed, in verses 28–29 the psalmist refers to God’s eternal promises to David.
In much of the Old Testament, when the OT writers speak of God’s expansive promises to David, they tend to emphasize mainly those promises about the eternal Davidic kingdom (e.g., Pss. 18:46–50; 72:70–72; 132:1–18; 1 Chr. 17:7–14). But here the psalmist does something pretty shocking: he also mentions the iniquity of the house of David and the failure of the Davidic line. We observe this in verses 30–32: “If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.” The psalmist recognizes these failures. In fact, this is exactly what the psalmist has experienced in his own day. It is the decline in the house of David and the lack of faithfulness in God’s people that have led to punishment on the nation and on its Davidic king.
It is difficult to ascertain exactly when this psalmist writes. Some scholars say it could be as early as the time when Shishak attacked the house of Rehoboam shortly after the time of Solomon. Others suggest it could be as late as the exile. The heading of Psalm 89 mentions its author is Ethan the Ezrahite. The debate has to do with identifying exactly who Ethan the Ezrahite is and when he may have lived. Regardless, the important issue here is that the house of David has regularly failed in its faithfulness to God and his ways. So, it is not really a surprise when in verse 38 we read that horrible statement: “But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.” And this is where the psalm takes a dramatic turn, leading into the psalmist’s great lament.
The Psalmist Reminds us to Sing Our Lament and Longing to the Lord
It is helpful to remember here that, in our era as Jesus’s people, we know even greater promises than the Old Testament house of David received. We have met the true Davidic king, the ultimate eternal messianic king, Jesus Christ. We know him as the Son of David, the Son of God, the very Emmanuel, the Savior of his people, the Great Deliverer. Thus, we have a faith even more firm and confident than the Davidic promises. And yet, even for us, we experience things going south in our own lives or in the lives of others. We observe nations rising up against nations and tragedy upon tragedy. We begin to wonder and question. We can feel (just like the psalmist) that it is time to cry out to God for his deliverance and to plead for him to come through on his promises. The psalmist teaches us that amid the difficulties of our lives, we are to sing our lament and longing to the Lord.
Thus, we enter the third and final section of the psalm. Whatever the situation the psalmist is in and whenever he may have lived in the Old Testament period, we note that he speaks of God’s wrath against the anointed Davidic king (v. 38). We can picture ourselves back in his historical locale and empathize with his worry that the Davidic Covenant has been renounced (v. 39). We can imagine the destruction of the city walls and its defenses (v. 40). We can visualize the plundering of Judah and the scorn of their neighbors (vv. 41–42). And we can lament that the Davidic kingdom is covered in shame (v. 45). These are horrible days he is living in.
Even now, when we know of the wonderful salvation of our Lord Jesus, the long promised Davidic Messiah, we can feel the psalmist’s pain when we read these verses. Indeed, we can identify with his pain exactly because our Lord has accomplished his salvation. We know that there is a greater hope. Jesus died for our sins. He rose again that we might have eternal life. He has poured out his Spirit. He’s announced good news to the captives. He has promised his return. He has promised an eternal kingdom. That kingdom is inaugurated and present with us, and yet it has not been fully consummated. So, like the psalmist, we live in those days in between, when we have the promised hope of deliverance—and yet, there is pain in this life, a longing for what we know is to come. And in that we can identify not only with the psalmist, but with Israel. We long for God’s redemption.
I think of this often now in a very personal way as, over the last couple of months, I have been sitting with my mom at her nursing home, spoon-feeding her a bite of food at a time, hoping that she will eat even half of the soup that’s in front of her. I feel that pain. I feel that dislocation. I feel the hope of promise and the deep longing for better things. I experience this on the Seminary campus when I hear of students whose families and friends are facing difficult illnesses, who have lost jobs, who are facing a lack of income and wondering what’s next. I see it with many of my friends at this stage in life; when we talk about prayer requests, it can be quite disheartening because there is just so much to pray for. I perceive it in the world around us when I think of a country like Ukraine or northeastern India, where many of our graduates are serving earnestly during ongoing wars and tribal strife. I witness it in our own nation where we hear almost daily about another act of terrible violence, or hatred, or natural disasters, or corruption in high places, or the moral failures of church leaders. We feel the pain of all that. We long for deliverance. We ask: Where is our God?
And yet, we know our God is very present. He has offered us sure and earnest hope in Christ. Our Messiah has come. His death and resurrection grant us a certain guarantee of his eternal coming kingdom. As we wait in this time in between, longing for the consummation of all things, the psalmist has much to teach us about how to live. I would suggest at least three ways to approach such times of lament, which are basically the same points made above but in reverse order.
Like the psalmist, we can and should engage in lament. It is good and appropriate for us to sing out to God of our earnest desire for his deliverance.
Like the psalmist, we can in the midst of our troubles remember who our God is. We can sing our praises of his greatness and goodness, of his steadfast love and faithfulness.
Like the psalmist, we can remind ourselves of those sure promises God made to the house of David of the eternal kingdom. We know who that eternal King is, and it is his love, his faithfulness, that will bring us through even the darkest of times.
As we sing with the psalmist in our lament, “Where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?” (v. 49), we can also sing with him, ultimately (as he does in the concluding verse): “Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen.” Why can we do this? Because we have a God whose character is beyond comparison, which shines forth from day to day in his glorious creation. We know that he is the one whose steadfast love and faithfulness endure forever. We have the sure promises of our eternal messianic king, who hears us in our lament and whose deliverance is also sure and certain. We can trust him in this time between—and for all eternity to come. Amen.
Note: This article first appeared in the fall 2025 edition of Covenant magazine. Get your copy or subscribe to Covenant here.
