4. God’s Faithfulness Will Never Cease–Wait for Him (vv. 46-52). Ethan looks ahead (vv. 46-48) and asks the painful question, “How long, O Lord?” (See 6:3 for other references.) Surely he knew the prophecy of Jeremiah that the people would be in exile for seventy years and then permitted to return to their land (Jer. 25:1-14; 29:4-14), but when you are in the midst of the storm, you long for God to deliver you as soon as possible. To Ethan, it all seemed so futile. Life is short, all people will die, and God’s people had to spend their days in exile. Then Ethan looked back (v. 49) and asked what had happened to the great loving-kindnesses the Lord had shown to David. But God’s love had not changed; it was Judah’s love for the Lord that had waned. Like any good parent, God shows His love to His children by either blessing their obedience or chastening them for their disobedience, but in either situation, He is manifesting His love.

Finally, Ethan looked around and felt keenly the reproaches of the enemy (vv. 50-51). The king of Judah was now a common prisoner in a foreign city! No doubt Jehoiachin was paraded shamelessly in Babylon as living proof that the gods of Babylon were greater than Judah’s God. How the Babylonians must have enjoyed following the parade and taunting the captive Jews, especially the anointed king!

Verse 52 is not a part of the original psalm but forms the conclusion of book III of the Psalms (see 41:13; 72:18-19). But it expresses a great truth: No matter how much we suffer because of the sins of others, and no matter how perplexed we may be at the providential workings of the Lord, we should still be able to say by faith, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!” And our fellow sufferers ought to respond with, “Amen and amen! So be it!”

That’s the way of trust–faith in the faithfulness of the Lord.