The other day I was reading Psalm 83 and I found it quite interesting that all the people named in Ps. 83.6 who made a covenant against the Lord are people He made a promise to! In Deuteronomy 2, I just read about the promises He made to Edom and Moab – promises that He kept by telling Israel not to conquer them. And Ishmaelites/Hagarenes are the descendents of Hagar (Ishmael) to whom the Lord also promised a great lineage in Genesis 16.10. Isn’t it sad when people for whom the Lord has made special provision turn against Him? Before we are quick to point a finger at Edom and the Ishmaelites, we who are Christians ought to examine our lives in the mirror of God’s Word here in Ps. 83.

Has God made special promises to His people? Of course He has! Promises of complete forgiveness, of peace in Christ, of His constant presence, and many more! But we often turn our faces against Him. We don’t make a tangible covenant per se, but we scorn His promises when we choose our way instead of His. Our God has promised to love us faithfully, but we choose to gossip about them or treat them harshly when we want to serve ourselves instead. Our God has promised us that He works in us to desire and to do His good pleasure, but we indulge the lusts of our flesh so frequently and boldly. Our God has promised that He will come again for us, but we are consumed with the cares and worries of the world and we really couldn’t care less if He came today or not. How foolish and selfish of us!

Let us instead turn our eyes above, thinking on the gracious promises of the Lord, and then order our lives properly under His Holy authority. He deserves our loyalty because He has so wonderfully promised His loyalty to us.