Psalm 89:49–50: “LORD, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, / Which You swore to David in Your truth? / Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants— / How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,”

April 4th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Although this psalm ends on a sad note, “Where are you God?”, the psalmist dedicates most of it to reminding himself of the good things God has done in the past. In so doing, he wisely instructs us that when we begin to doubt God’s presence, we should remember His past acts of love and mercy on our behalf. This is probably why the psalmist started the first verse of this psalm with: “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever.” Can we still sing of God’s mercies when storms rage all around us and those we love?

Several years ago an elderly man in a local church, a fine singer, learned that he had cancer of the tongue and that the required surgery would leave him speechless. In the hospital, after everything was ready for the operation, he asked his doctor, “Are you sure I will never sing again?” The surgeon, finding it difficult to answer, simply shook his head in the negative. The patient then asked if he could sit up for a moment. He said, “I’ve had many good times singing the praises of God. And now you tell me I can never sing again. So I choose to sing one last song, here on earth, of gratitude and praise to God.” There, in the doctors’ and nurses’ presence, the man softly sang the words of Isaac Watts’ old hymn:

I’ll praise my maker while I’ve breath,
and when my voice is lost in death,
praise shall employ my nobler powers;
my days of praise shall ne’er be past,
while life, and thought, and being last,
or immortality endures.

“LORD, we do desire to praise You in both the good times and also in the hard times. You are always good to us, LORD, and we look forward to singing to You in eternity, as well as today.”