Psalm 89.1
I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 

Ina Drew invested over $350 billion throughout the course of her career as the Chief Investment Officer at JPMorgan Chase. She is remembered, in the New York Times Magazine’s words, as “the public face attached to a $6 billion mistake, a trading loss so startling in size that it dominated the business press, put [CEO Jamie] Dimon on the defensive and cost Drew her job.”

One headhunter noted that her fall is just part of the process: “That’s what they pay you so much money for. To take the fall when things go wrong.” Careers and incomes are fleeting. We can hold the economic lever for a major bank one day and take the fall for its loss a few months later. 

Although God has not promised to make us C-level executives, He has promised — through David — to make us co-heirs with Christ, who sits on the throne forever.

Psalm 89 celebrates God’s covenant with David and begs Him to apply that covenant to David’s descendants: “You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” 

Since David was already dead when the psalmist wrote this psalm, we know that he himself was claiming that the covenantal promises made to David applied to him, too: “Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?”

The gospel is not merely that Jesus lived and died; it is also that he was resurrected from the dead and glorified. Today, he sits at the right hand of the Father, where he lives to intercede for us. This is the gospel, and it is lasting.

Prayer
Lord, the circumstances of our lives are constantly changing. Yet we do not react to our uncertainties with fear, hoarding our resources and being timid about the gospel. Instead, we react with faith, knowing that we have the unchanging covenantal love that you made to David and kept in Christ. Therefore, we claim your promises – that goodness and mercy will follow us all our days and that you will make us co-heirs in Christ to that covenant promise to David if we seek our satisfaction in you. Amen.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 6 (Listen – 3:13)
Psalm 89 (Listen – 5:29)

Investing With Your Life
Part 2 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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Psalm 88.1
O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 

Halfway through the winter of 2009 construction crews worked to dig a parking garage under a 13 story apartment building in Shanghai. The workers, mostly untrained migrants, had dumped tons of excavated dirt on the bank of a nearby creek. What happened next was was likely a result of unfavorable winds, soft soil from unseasonably high amounts of rain, and the creek bank collapsing under the weight of the dirt.

Photos from the site are arresting. A nearly intact 13 story building lays on its side — as if a toddler had knocked over her dollhouse. Fortunately, because construction was incomplete, there were no tenants in the building and only one person lost their life in the tragedy — a remarkably low number based off the size of the building.

Weak foundations lead to catastrophic events.

Psalm 88 is a desperate cry to God in the midst of catastrophic events. Charles Spurgeon called it “the darkest of psalms.” The psalmist pleads with God, “Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!”

Spurgeon continues, “It is a sorrowful wail, and it comes to a close when you do not expect it to finish. It really has no finish to it, as when men wind up their songs with proper finales; but it is broken off, like a lily snapped at the stalk.”

The psalmist pours his pain and frustration before God in prayer. “Prayer is always best when it rises to pleading,” Spurgeon concludes. “The man who understands the sacred art of prayer becomes a special pleader with God.”

Even in the seconds before the building in Shanghai fell over it would have looked no different from the other two buildings on site. The outside architecture was nearly complete. The paint color naturally complemented existing structures. And the view of the city from the top floors would have been wonderful. 

The foundation was built on shifting sands.

We can attempt to solve life’s disappointments and crises with emotional strength or shear will. But it’s in our relationship with God through Christ’s sacrifice, our prayer and worship, the community of believers, and the scriptures that we find the foundation which can sufficiently support a thriving life.

Prayer
Father though this world will fail us, you have proven your steadfast ever-pursuing love. Help us to invest our lives in you — our great hope, our joy, our freedom and our life.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 5 (Listen – 4:25)
Psalm 88 (Listen – 1:58)

Investing With Your Life
Part 1 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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