Category: Unanswered Prayer

Psalm 89: The Lord’s reign through David has died

The final psalm in Book 3 is the low point of the Psalter. Jerusalem has fallen. Judah is captive to Babylon. There is no longer any nation to show the nations the wonder of belonging to God. The kingdom of God and the reign of David no longer exist.

Psalm 89 is attributed to Ethan the Ezrahite, but we don’t know who he was. He speaks for a people grappling with contradictory realities: God is faithful, but we’re not experiencing it.

Psalm 89 takes us up to the heights, and down to the depths. In summary:

Continue reading “Psalm 89: The Lord’s reign through David has died”

Psalm 80: Israel has fallen

How do you pray when everything falls apart?

Books 1 and 2 of the Psalms focused on the reign of David and his sons (Psalms 1–72). Seeing the kingdom fall in Book 3 is heart-rending:

Psalm 79:1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

The disintegration began when Solomon died and the kingdom split (1 Kings 12). Only Judah (the southern kingdom) retained the Davidic kingship and worshipped in Jerusalem. The northern tribes made Samaria their capital, crowning their own kings, setting up their own worship centres. Eventually, both kingdoms fell.

Psalm 80 responds to the fall of Israel to Assyria in 722 BC. Psalm 89 responds to the fall of Judah to Babylon in 586 BC. We’ll keep Psalm 89 for next time.

Continue reading “Psalm 80: Israel has fallen”

Disillusioned with Jesus? (Matthew 11:1-6)

When God doesn’t do what you expect.

Open Matthew 11:1-6.

Matthew 11:2-3 (my translation)
2 In prison, John heard what the Messiah was doing and sent his followers 3 to ask him, “Are you the one to come, or do we wait for another?”

Last year I was in a Masters-level class on the kingdom of God. Dr Tidball asked us, “So why did John the Baptist doubt if Jesus was the Messiah?” How could the greatest of all prophets — the one privileged to announce the arrival of the Messiah — doubt if Jesus was the Messiah? Continue reading “Disillusioned with Jesus? (Matthew 11:1-6)”