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Day 354

Psalm 89:39a "You have renounced the covenant of Your servant..."

Day 354 – Psalm 89

“You have renounced the covenant of Your servant…” Psalm 89:39a

THE APPLICATION OF GOD’S WORD

One of the most difficult things to do is to consistently apply the Word of God into our everyday life. Ethan the Ezrahite had a hard time at doing this.

“You have renounced the covenant of Your servant;
You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.”
Psalm 89:39

1. “You have renounced the covenant of Your servant”

a) Ethan did not accuse God of breaking His covenant word
b) Instead, he alleged that God had “renounced the covenant”

2. “You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground”

a) This would be a reference to the king losing his crown
b) This could happen when he is soundly defeated in battle
c) This could lead to the humiliation of losing his kingdom to a more powerful enemy
d) Judah was soundly beaten by the Babylonians!

3. Why did Ethan make these strong statements?

Let us ponder the following possibilities

a) He had his own ideas as to what God should do
b) Perhaps he believed that God should not have allowed Judah to suffer such defeat
c) Perhaps he believed that God had allowed Judah and its kings to suffer too much humiliation
d) Perhaps his pain was such that he could not see beyond the present?

4. What could Ethan have done?

Let us ponder the following thoughts.

a) He could have sought to understand the gravity of the sins of the latter kings of Judah (King Ahaz and King Manasseh practised wicked and erroneous religious rituals. Cf. 2 Chronicles 28:1-4; 33:6-7)
b) He could have sought to understand why God had to punish the kings of Judah as He did
c) He could have contemplated on just how badly he failed to apply God’s word