Gospel Reflections #1139: Despite our Faith

Psalm 89:38 ‘Yet you have cast off and rejected your anointed one; you have been furious with him.’

This passage marks a crucial turning point in history, where the narrative shifts abruptly from the ‘eternal promises of God’ discussed up to that point to the reality of ‘despairing suffering and ruin’.

It is believed that this psalm was written during the Babylonian Exile or immediately afterwards.

The line of David—to whom God had promised that ‘the throne of your descendants shall endure for ever’—had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a pagan nation, and the crown had been cast to the ground.

Faced with this utterly harsh reality, David was deeply shaken.

From verse 38 onwards, a significant struggle of faith is depicted.

David hurls fierce words at God, as if to say, ‘Why have you broken your promise?’

‘You were angry; you annulled the covenant,’ he states, candidly acknowledging that the cause of the current dire situation lies in God’s anger.

This is not a lack of faith in God, but rather a genuine prayer born of a deep relationship—one in which he confronts God directly with a reality he cannot accept.

Readers of the Bible sense a strong contradiction here.

The question arises: ‘Was God’s promise a lie?’

However, viewed within the broader context of Scripture, this ‘destruction of the human kingdom’ was not the end.

Although the earthly Kingdom of David collapses at this point, later in the New Testament, Yezah Christ (the Messiah, or ‘the Anointed One’) appears as a descendant of David.

The question posed in this psalm is ultimately resolved by the realisation that the prophesied ‘eternal throne of David’ refers not to a visible, earthly political kingdom, but to the eternal spiritual salvation (the Kingdom of God) brought about by Christ.

Psalm 89:38 teaches us how we should pray to God when, despite our faith in His promises, reality seems to be taking a turn for the worst.

David does not sugar-coat his feelings; by candidly pouring out his despair and anger to God, he is striving to maintain his connection with Him nonetheless.

God knows just how weak we are.

And we know that everything is in the hands of the Almighty God.

Whether we allow ourselves to be tossed about by circumstances or choose to exercise our faith in the midst of them depends on the depth of our relationship with God.

If our relationship with God is weak, we need only acknowledge this and ask God for help.

For our God is by our side to save us.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.