Psalms 102:1-13

Kindly notice the title of this Psalm: «Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.» I call your attention to it in order to remind you what charges there are in the life of a believer. Here, in the 102 nd Psalm, the afflicted saint is pouring out his complaint; and then, in the 103 rd, the rejoicing believer is blessing the Lord in a jubilant song of grateful praise. Such are a true Christian's ups and downs, nights and days, and I can see how the 103 rd Psalm blossoms out of the 102 nd. When the afflicted believer can pour out his complaint before the Lord, it will not be long before he will be able to cry, «Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.» If you carry your complaint in your own bosom, or tell it to some earthly friend, you will probably continue to have cause to complain; but if you pour out your heart before God, it will not be long before he will give you ease and relief.

Psalms 102:1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;

«For that would make my trouble to be unbearable.»

«That were a grief I could not bear

Didst thou not hear and answer prayer.»

Psalms 102:2. Incline thine ear unto me:

«Stoop down to me; bend over me; listen to the moanings of my darkness, the whispers of my weakness.»

Psalms 102:2. In the day when I call answer me speedily.

«For I am brought so low that, if a delay be not a denial, it will be tantamount to it, for I shall be dead before the answer comes unless it reaches me speedily.»

Psalms 102:3. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

That is a very pitiful state for anyone to be brought into, in which the sorrow of the mind begins to weaken the strength of the body; the soul itself is so inflamed that a fever is generated within the bodily frame, which seems «burned as a hearth.»

Psalms 102:5. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

By grief, he had brought himself down to such an emaciated state that his bones pierced through his skin.

Psalms 102:6. I am like the pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. He had got into such a melancholy state of mind that he shunned human company, sought solitude, and became as mournful a creature as «an owl of the desert.»

Psalms 102:8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.

Observe that all David's enemies could not make him weep. Mad as they were against him, they could not extort a tear from his eyes, but God's indignation and wrath touched him to the quick, and made him mingle his drink with weeping. He felt that God was treating him as wrestlers treat one another, when a man deliberately lifts up his opponent in order that he may give him the worse fall: «Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.» All the joys that he had ever known seemed to make his sorrow the more bitter; the light of God's countenance, in which he had formerly walked, made the darkness, in which he was enshrouded, to seem all the blacker.

Psalms 102:11. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

That was David's usual way, to comfort himself in his God when he could find no comfort in himself or in his surroundings. You remember that he did so on that memorable occasion when Ziklag was burned, and the people spake of stoning him: «David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.» We shall be wise if we follow his example; for, when every other source of joy is dried up, when all earthly wells are stopped up by the Philistines, the stream of God's mercy flows on as freely as ever.

Psalms 102:13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.

God is sure to bless his Church when the members of it take a deep interest in even the least things that appertain to God's cause: «Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.» I fear that, in many churches, the set time to favor Zion has been postponed by the apathy, the lethargy, or the carelessness of many of those who profess to be the servants of God.

Psalms 102:15. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

It was to God's glory for him to build up the ancient Jewish kingdom, and it is equally to his glory to build up his Church at the present time, quarrying the stones of nature, changing them by his almighty power, polishing them, by his grace, after the similitude of a palace, building them up upon the one foundation, that is, Jesus Christ, laying course upon course until the whole structure shall be finished.

Psalms 102:17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

There is a gracious promise for all destitute souls who cry unto God.

Psalms 102:18. This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

This is written for our comfort, dear friends; there it stands permanently, in this blessed Book, that, as long as there is a destitute and tried people of God, he will not despise their prayer.

Psalms 102:19. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

As if God was looking down from the battlements of heaven, observing, watching for something; and what is it that God is looking for?

Psalms 102:20. To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

Is not that a delightful view of God? Watching, not for the music of sweet singers, nor for the noise of victorious warriors, but for «the groaning of the prisoner», the sight of those shut up in the condemned cell, «appointed to death.»

Psalms 102:21. To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

It is most instructive to notice how the psalmist ascribes all to God, not only his strength, but his weakness; not merely his extended life, but even the shortening of his days. It takes away the sting from our sorrow when we know that it comes from God. It helps us to bear any apparent calamity when we feel that it is our Heavenly Father's hand that has wrought it all, or his will that has permitted it to happen.

Psalms 102:24. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

The ever-living God is our constant comfort amidst the ever-changing scenes of this mortal life. Ay, and when we come even to the border of the land of death-shade, this is still our joy, «The Lord liveth,» for, from the midst of the throne, we hear our Saviour say, «Because I live, ye shall live also,

Psalms 102:28. The children of thy servants, shall continue,

We pass away, but our children take our place. As Wesley said, «God buries his workmen, but his work goes on.» One generation passes away, but another comes in its stead.

Psalms 102:28. And their seed shall be established before thee.

Blessed be the name of the ever-living God!