It's not surprising that Christians often ask, why has God done this in my life? If He is faithful and kind, why does He appear so cruel? Why are prayers unanswered when God has promised He will answer? We must not give black-or-white answers like, ″you didn't have enough faith″. The reality is that, sometimes, the ways of God seem unfair and, in this life, we may never know why. Like many other psalms, Psalm 89 addresses this issue.

Psalm 89 surprises us. It almost seems like two diametrically opposed psalms. It begins as a psalm of praise by singing of God's great love and faithfulness (vv. 1-2). This love was shown particularly when a covenant was established with David, promising him a lasting dynasty (vv. 3-4).

The psalmist then exalts God as supreme among all the heavenly beings (vv. 5-8), the creator and powerful ruler of heaven and earth (vv. 9-13).

All this forms a backdrop to the central part of this psalm where the writer remembers how God chose David to be both the people's king and His own firstborn son (v. 27; see 1 Samuel 16). While the Lord will discipline any of David's descendants who ″fail to keep [His] commands″ (v. 31-32), nevertheless He has promised to never ″violate my covenant″ (v. 34). David's line will continue for ever (vv. 35-37).

Then in v. 38 there is a dramatic change in tone, ″But you have rejected . . . your anointed one″. The accusation is fierce–that God has broken His promise. We don't know what crisis prompted the writer's outburst, but the nation is under threat from enemies. It appears the end of the rule of the kingdom of David is near. The psalm concludes with a plea for God to change His attitude and take action (vv. 50-51).

The fact is that the line of David came to an end with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Had God broken His promise? It certainly looked like it. However, the prophets foretell a future son of David who would reign for ever (see Isaiah 11:1-5; Jeremiah 23:5-6). The good news of the New Testament is that the true ″son of David″ has come and God's faithful people recognised Him (see Matthew 9:27; Luke 1:32; Acts 13:22-23). The New Testament ends with the promise of the second coming of the ″Offspring of David″ (Revelation 22:16).

To the writer of Psalm 89, it looked like God had broken His word. Today we can see that He was always faithful to the promise of providing an eternal king. In the same way, one day we'll be able to look back and see how the Lord was working out His good purposes in our lives even when it didn't look like it.