Psalms Reading – 4.5.2022
Psalm 102
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
9 For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears
10 because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days.
24 So I said: “Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.
25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”
The ancient church identified this as one of seven penitential psalms and is a lament of an “afflicted person.” The psalmist complains in a familiar way found in other laments. In verse 11, he says he will wither away like grass. But then his tone shifts at verse 12 speaking that God is enthroned as king forever and His fame continues through all generations.
In the midst of his lamenting, the psalmist can confidently proclaim God’s eternal and powerful nature and declare that God will act and show compassion once again. God will not despise the prayer of the destitute. He can envision the day when the name of the Lord will be praised in Jerusalem once again, and peoples from many nations will gather to worship the Lord.
This passage points ahead to Jesus: His birth as the Magi came to worship from faraway places, the praise He received from the multi-ethnic crowd on His triumphal entry, and, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. May we be included among those who bow in worship as Christ advances His eternal kingdom throughout the earth.
Memory Verse: Psalm 103:11-12, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Question(s) to Consider: In the midst of all our laments concerning the condition of our world, can we declare that Christ is enthroned as King and trust that His kingdom is advancing in the world?