Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah (ESV)
Allen P. Ross writes:
The psalmist is not without hope. He begins his lament with a hymn that praises God for His loyal love and faithfulness; he recalls the marvelous acts of God in the past; and most importantly, he restates the promises of God from the development of the monarchy with the choice of David to the covenant that He swore to David, a covenant that promised an eternal dynasty. On the basis of all this, the psalmist pleads with God to intervene once again and fulfill the promises that he made to David, and therefore to the nation. The prayer is certainly the focus of the psalm; but is an informed prayer and not a desperate cry out of the darkness. Believers down through the ages have been in similar situations; and their prayers are most effectual when they are based on the character of God and on His sure promises. [One way to apply this passage to our lives is to see that] When sin causes God’s anointed king [one of the merely human kings between David and Jesus] to be abandoned and humiliated, the faithful may pray confidently for His kingdom to come, because God promised David an everlasting kingdom and He is faithful to His covenant promises.
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 50
Q. 50. What is required in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.