I love how it goes from the dark night of the soul in Psalm 88 to the high praises of God and His faithfulness in the next Psalm.
The contrast between the two Psalms is very strong, but in the end, I don't think Psalm 89 is really
separate from the preceding Psalm so much as it is spoken in spite of it. Psalm 88 ends on a depressing note like "You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend" (88:18). Then we go immediately into "I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations" (89:1).
It would seem that there's a major shift, but you realize very quickly that Ethan (the Psalmist here) isn't just singing praise, but is reminding God of his promises. The words "you said" appear twice in the Psalm to reiterate what promises God made to David and his house, and Ethan even quotes God as saying "I will not lie to David" (89:35). He repeats God's promise "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 'I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations'" (89:3-4).
That promise is stressed over and over again, and then Ethan gets to the point: "But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one" (89:38). Ethan asserts that the covenant has been renounced, Jerusalem is in ruins, Judah has been plundered, her enemies have been exalted, and she has been shamed. Then comes the question "O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?" (89:49). And then comes the prayer to "Remember"!
Ethan still ends on a high note, with a simple "Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen" (89:52). Clearly, Ethan was writing under the same type of conditions as the Sons of Korah in Psalm 88 - and yet his psalm is filled with praise. Do we praise God so highly in our own times of darkness?
