Psalm 89:1-4, 34-37 (NIV)
I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.’ I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—and I will not lie to David— that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”
Game of Thrones was a record-breaking machine with its eight seasons on HBO and 161 Emmy nominations. Based on a series of books, it told a fictional tale of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the violent dynastic struggles among the realm’s noble families for the “Iron Throne,” while other families fight for independence from it. There are few, if any, characters that would serve as a wise and noble leader over all seven kingdoms. And while one main character appears to be on-track, she ultimately gives herself over to her baser nature and fails. Another character—a humble and noble young man—seems like the last, best hope, but alas, that was not to be. Game of Thrones, like the heaving’s of the modern geo-political world, was a land without stable leadership. Not so in the Kingdom of God.
Psalm 89 recounts and calls upon God’s promise to establish and maintain the royal line of David, despite the present and seemingly unassailable difficulties of the psalm writer’s circumstances (Ethan the Ezrahite). Of this psalm, Spurgeon noted that, “It is the utterance of a believer, in presence of great national disaster, pleading with his God, urging the grand argument of covenant engagements, and expecting deliverance and help, because of the faithfulness of Jehovah.” Being in the line of King David and in his kingdom was a big deal back then, to say the least, and it is still a big deal today for followers of Jesus Christ today. The people in Game of Thrones were in desperate need of a righteous king, but that is not the case for us. We have the Ultimate Righteous King and his throne and dominion will last forever and ever, amen.
Desperation was the setting for this psalm, but the notion of covenant was its deliverer. Thankfully, God did not make a contract with His people because we have never been able to hold up our end…and we never could. A contract is invalidated when one party fails to fulfill its obligation, but a covenant is totally different. The divine covenant between God and his people is one in which God binds Himself by His own oath to keep His promises. Still, there are conditions attached to that oath on the human side. If the human party involved in a covenant with God does not keep the covenant’s conditions, there will be consequences—but even then, the covenant remains in place. God will keep every promise he has ever made because that is who He is. There is simply no other option.
Towards the end of Psalm 88 the writer is lamenting that God appears to have abandoned his people to shame and scorn and imprisonment (v. 38-45). He asks desperately, “How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?” Have you ever been in a situation like that? Have you endured a season where it appeared as if God was nowhere to be found? The bible’s honesty throughout the Psalms should comfort anyone who has walked that painful and lonely road…but so should the eternal and ever-present hope that they communicate! Despite the terrible circumstances, Ethan the Ezrahite was able to finish with, “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen” (v.52). He chose to cling to the covenant that would not be broken and trust in the ultimate delivery that could only be found in God. We all must do the same.
