TUESDAY 9th
Psalm 89
NIV (v52) – ‘Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.’
ESV (v52) – ‘Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.’
One more visit to this psalm, and the final verse, it is simply a declaration that because of who God is and for all that he has done, may he blessed forever, with a double amen, so be it, so be it.
When we consider all that God has done, ponder on these few aspects, firstly in his creative work secondly in his recreating work, thirdly in his constant care, fourthly with his compassionate love and sixthly in his personal work in our own hearts and lives, surely, we cry out with the psalmist, Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen, or as the NIV puts it ‘Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.
Wherever you are today. Make some time to worship the Lord, and blessing him for all he has done, thank him for his goodness toward you, as David says in a later psalm, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name!’ Psalm 103:1.
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.
Why should I make a man my trust?
Princes must die and turn to dust;
vain is the help of flesh and blood:
their breath departs, their pomp, and power,
and thoughts, all vanish in an hour,
nor can they make their promise good.
Happy the man whose hopes rely
on Israel’s God: he made the sky,
and earth, and seas, with all their train;
his truth for ever stands secure,
he saves th’oppressed, he feeds the poor,
and none shall find his promise vain.
The Lord has eyes to give the blind;
the Lord supports the sinking mind;
he sends the laboring conscience peace;
he helps the stranger in distress,
the widow, and the fatherless,
and grants the prisoner sweet release.
He loves his saints, he knows them well,
but turns the wicked down to hell;
thy God, O Zion! ever reigns:
Let every tongue, let every age,
in this exalted work engage;
praise him in everlasting strains.
I’ll praise him while he lends me 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.
Isaac Watts