Bible Reading: Psalm 74: 1-23
“Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty” – Psalm 74:20(KJV).
God is a covenant keeper. His side of any covenant with man is constant, so He actually does not need being reminded about having respect for a contract agreement with man. When the contract between God and man seem not to be working, the reason is traceable to man who is unstable. Man should be the one to be warned for breaking the covenant of God. However, the Psalmist is bemoaning a period when God has deserted the people due to their sins and seeing into future events that shall be unfolding under the terms of God’s covenant with His people, knowing that every disobedience must be judge when our obedience is full. God was watching and waiting for the full manifestation of his people’s obedience, and in this passage, the Psalmist was invoking the covenant of God with His people.
Actually the dark places are full of habitation of wickedness. Man has filled the dark places of the earth with cruelty. The bible in John 3:19(KJV) says: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Satan is the ruler of the darkness of this world. The habitation of wickedness that operate in the dark places of the earth has been responsible for distorted destinies, collapsed marriages, untimely death, career/business failure, academic failure, madness, untimely death through motor accidents and so on. The activity that goes on in the habitation of cruelty under the umbrella of the dark places are nefarious and destructive that requires the intervention of the Almighty. It is upon this premise that the Psalmist prayed in Psalm 7:9(KJV): “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end:” It is because of this that the Almighty God established His everlasting covenant through the immutability of His counsel. God established His covenant with man on two grounds as follows:
- Salvation , Deliverance and restoration- The acceptable year of the LORD.
- Restoration and Vengeance – The day of vengeance of our God.
Contained in the covenant between man and God that was sealed with the blood of the Lamb is the Acceptable year of the LORD which includes the following:-
- Preaching of good tidings unto the meek;
- Binding up the broken hearted,
- Proclamation of liberty to the captives,
- Opening of the prison door to them that are bound,
- Proclaiming the acceptable year of the LORD.
When Christ came, rightly dividing the word of God, he stopped his reading of the scriptures in Luke 4:18 at “to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” This was the first part of his mission under the everlasting covenant terms.This was further buttressed in Zechariah 9:11(KJV): “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoner out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee.” This is the fulfilment of the first part of the covenant.
We shall be concluding this piece tomorrow.
Prayer: Father thank you for establishing your covenant of salvation with me.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo