Psalm 102

A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. 

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!

2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!

The author is unknown but the prayer is universal. He is afflicted, overwhelmed and he pours out his complaint before the LORD. There is a lot of complaining in the Psalms because of the dissonance between the character of God (his steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and goodness) and the reality on the ground. We get gut-punched by injustice, cancer, and life-changing accidents. And these things don’t seem to discriminate based on one’s faith in the goodness of God. And so the complaint begins with an attempt to get God’s attention because it seems as if He has looked away. There are six verbs related to addressing God. “Hear my prayer” begins with the Hebrew word, shema, the same word that the faithful undoubtedly used every day in stating their core beliefs. “Hear O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is one.” In this case, the addressee is not his neighbor, but his God, whose listening ear and presence seems to be in doubt. The negative request here encapsulates the psalmist’s feelings of isolation, “Do not hide your face from me.” It’s human nature to avoid people who are suffering. We don’t want to look at them out of fear that the same thing may happen to us. There is an awkwardness to it -- What do we say? What possible good could our words do? What if I catch what they’ve got? What if death visits my home next? So it’s natural to think that God might behave the same way, avoiding the issue of his apparent neglect of his suffering servant. The psalmist is disappointed in God, and he suggests in this request that God is hiding from him. He asks YHWH to lean in and give him a quick answer when he calls. One can’t blame the psalmist for his urgency. When you are in pain, it is at the center of your attention. You can’t move forward until something is done about it. And so like a toddler trying to get mom’s attention, he repeats his request in many forms until he gets an answer. It’s not like God isn’t listening or caring. It just feels that way sometimes. And God’s timeline is different from ours. We want a speedy answer, but when he is trying to teach us patience, the speedy answer is the last thing we’ll get. When your heart is overwhelmed, continue to call God. He is listening and He has already acted in Christ to join you in your suffering and lift you up. 

3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.

4 My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.

5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.

The psalmist describes the physical effects of his suffering. His “days pass away like smoke” suggests the ephemeral nature of his life.There’s nothing solid to grab onto. The days slip through his hands, and he has lost all sense of time and purpose. He’s in a fog. His “bones burn like a furnace” could suggest physical pain from inflammation, or it could be a simile suggesting frustration. Burning can be associated with anger, and he is certainly frustrated with God at his circumstances. The point in bringing up the bones is that the pain is deep. The bones are the central part of the human body, all else hangs on them. So the deepest part of him is on fire. His “heart is struck down like withered grass.” The heart refers to the internal strength of a person, and he has nothing left. He’s about as strong as grass at 4:00 in the afternoon, wilting in the heat of the sun. As a result of these conditions -- mental, physical, and emotional -- he forgets to eat. Loss of appetite is a common side effect of depression and grief, and so this compounds his lack of energy and drive. If he’s not eating, he’s not doing the normal things of life -- working, preparing food, and cooking -- and this also contributes to the haze that he finds himself in. His normal life rhythms have been disrupted. The final statement of his physical condition is a little harder to interpret. First he admits that he is groaning or sighing loudly, a natural response to pain. Secondly, his bones cling to his skin. Normally this is stated in reverse, “my skin clings to my bones”, indicating starvation. Hence the saying, “he’s just skin and bones.” But here his bones cling to his skin/flesh. The word “cling” is the same that is used in the first wedding in Genesis 2. A husband is to cling to his wife, to stick together, to become inseparable. In his plight, the psalmist finds that his skin and bones are stuck, bones clinging to skin, perhaps suggesting a restriction of his movement or some kind of palsy. In short, the psalmist is a complete mess physically. It’s not clear that this is due to an illness or if the physical suffering he's experiencing is the result of his grief. In either case, it is an excruciating description of mental, emotional and physical pain. 

6 I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl [The precise identity of these birds is uncertain] of the waste places;

7 I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

The psalmist now describes his emotional and social situation, and it can be characterized by one word: lonely. He refers to three different solitary birds to describe how he feels. First, he is like a desert owl in the wilderness, a solitary, night-time hunter. He is awake at night and out of sight during the day. Secondly, he’s like a pelican or cormorant in the wasteland. The exact identity of this bird is unknown, but the root of its name is “vomit”, referring to a type of bird that regurgitates its food to feed its young. Pelicans and cormorants are sea birds, diving and eating fish along the shore. They are not necessarily solitary, but the vomiting suggests uncleanness, and they were considered an unclean bird in Israel. This may be the emphasis of the passage -- the psalmist is like an unclean bird, unworthy of associating with people. Finally he is like a lonely sparrow on the housetop, small and insignificant. Sparrows are monogamous, mating for life, and this sparrow is alone, suggesting the death of a mate. However, the psalmist may not have known that fact about sparrows, so the force of the statement is simply that the psalmist is alone and up at night. Birds notoriously awaken before everyone else, singing in the dark hours of the early morning. This is the psalmist, lying awake while everyone else rests. He suffers from insomnia because he can’t clear his mind of what is troubling him. The physical, emotional, and spiritual pain will not allow him to sleep. The nights are the worst. If you are not feeling like a lonely fowl today, think about those in your life who might be and reach out to them and let them know they are not alone. 

8 All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.

9 For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,

At night the psalmist may be sleepless and utterly alone, but during the day he gets a lot of attention. All day long his enemies taunt him. They make fun of him and use his name as a curse, swearing by it. Part of this may be the fact that he was a public figure in some way. The mocking may be deserved in part if he had done something foolish, or if he was innocent and just suffering, it could be that these are legitimate bad guys who just want to kick a man when he’s down. The mocking and gossip of others is certainly something that a grieving person must face. Whether it’s real or imagined, when you are suffering everything is about you. You can’t stop thinking about you, and so you imagine that everyone else is thinking about you as well, and it’s most likely negative (because you’ve got negative thoughts about yourself as well). All of our grief is then amplified. Even if people aren’t talking about you, you assume that they are and it feels the same. In verse 9 the psalmist refers again to his loss of appetite in a very direct metaphor. He eats ashes like bread and mixes his tears in his drink. Ashes were a common part of life as everything was cooked over wood. However, instead of eating the food, the psalmist felt like he was eating the ashes - the waste product of cooking. The pleasure of tasting and eating food has left him, and he is crying enough to add his tears to his drink. Eating and drinking are one of the great pleasures of life and also one of the most basic and universal experiences of what it means to be human, and yet even these have been taken away by his grief. 

10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

The psalmist wraps up his lament with the assigning of blame. Because God is sovereign and nothing happens without his permission, he is ultimately responsible for the psalmist’s suffering. It is the indignation and wrath of God that has put him in this position. YHWH has picked him up and thrown him down like a rag doll. One final pair of similes brings this section to a close. The psalmist’s days are like an evening shadow, growing longer and longer until suddenly they are gone. The days are long because they are filled with suffering, the pain, the grief, the isolation, and the rejection of his community. The nights are longer because sleep eludes him. Then suddenly the shadow ceases to exist when the sun sinks below the horizon, and just like that, death comes. The second simile is that of grass, a frequent metaphor in the psalm. Grass flourishes in the morning, nourished by the dew, but withers by the end of the day under the heat of the sun. The days are long, but life is short -- this could be a summary of the psalmist’s experience with grief. He cannot see a future of any length. His life is like a single day, flourishing for a moment but quickly withering away under the fire of suffering. This is the human experience, and a wise person will wake every morning and realize it. No matter how healthy you may be, that can change in a moment. Make the most of your days on the earth. Invest in others, use your influence and resources for doing good before the sun sets. 

12 But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.

13 You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.

In contrast to the fading shadow, short, grass-like life of the psalmist, YHWH is enthroned forever and remembered from generation to generation. The psalmist makes an abrupt turn from lament to praise with the words, “But you…” This is what we must do in our grief, turn our eyes towards YHWH and acknowledge his sovereignty. There are so many things that are out of our control, but the fact remains that God is in control. This should give us some comfort, particularly coupled with the understanding that we will live with him forever. The psalmist is confident that God will arise and have pity on this place, Zion. The reference to Zion suggests that this psalm might be from the time of the exile when Jerusalem lay in ruins. This would certainly make sense as the cause of the psalmist’s grief. It could also have been written during other times in Israel’s history when the city was in distress. The point seems to be that the psalmist is not alone in his suffering, the whole community is grieving as well. Things are broken and the psalmist prays for restoration, that a time of God’s favor would follow this season of suffering. This is hope, seeing the good that is yet to arrive. The psalmist is making a statement, but it is really a confident prayer. This is what the LORD is going to do. It is time. I know it. In the midst of your suffering, know that the LORD is still on the throne and he will restore you and show you favor once more. His desire is for your thriving and in His time you will receive a harvest of blessing if you don’t get discouraged and give up. 

14 For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust.

15 Nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.

More evidence of the exilic use of this psalm here as the psalmist speaks of his love for Zion, similar to the language of Psalms 122, 125, and 137. The image of loving the very stones and dust of the city is a powerful way of stating this affection. Even the lowest, simplest, and least attractive aspects of this place are loved. This is true of a place that you miss when you are far from it. It is a longing for home, for a place that holds fond memories. Not everyone has that, but for those that do have a good place to remember, this psalm resonates. For me there are the homes that I grew up in and then the homes that we raised our children in. I don’t love their dirt and stone, their brick and mortar, but I do cherish the memories there, and going to those places brings back the memories. There are other places in my spiritual journey that hold special meaning as well -- the church I was baptized in, the summer camps where I grew in my faith, the church where I preached my first sermon, the places where I have served in ministry. All of these are only a small taste of what the psalmist is feeling here towards Zion, the very house of God. The psalmist also believes there will be a great turnabout as the nations that conquered Judah will actually fear the LORD and their kings will fear YHWH’s glory. This actually comes true many times over -- Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia -- all experienced the LORD doing marvelous things for the people of God. This text is also prophet of the expansion of God’s kingdom to include the nations and kings of nations. Zion is no longer a singular location in the middle east, God now lives in the hearts of believers and wherever they are, that place is Zion. The church has been planted in kingdoms across the world and kings bow the knee to Jesus. While there is much still to be done, it’s clear that God is fulfilling this promise in our time. 

16 For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory;

17 he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

The psalmist’s confidence in YHWH continues, stating these truths about the LORD in the present tense. God is building up his city and he is showing up in glory. There is evidence that he is on the move after having appeared to have abandoned his people and held back his hand. Now he is listening to the prayer of the destitute, the person who has absolutely nothing. He’s not ignoring them anymore. This is a remarkable statement from a man who is still in the midst of his grief. There’s no evidence that relief has come, but still he sees it by faith. This psalm has much in common with Psalm 22 where for the first two-thirds of the psalm, the writer pours out his grief and expresses a deep sense of distance from God. But then there is a sudden turn and he sees the glory of God bursting into his world and changing everything. That seems to be what happened back in verse 12 as the psalmist sees God enthroned. Meditating on that vision, all that is bad in his life begins to come untrue. God is listening to his prayer and he is rebuilding his world. He is showing up in glorious ways, unmistakable God moments. This is the prayer of faith, believing even before we receive because we are confident in the nature of God and his relationship with us. 

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:

19 that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,

The psalmist is writing this down so that future generations would have faith in YHWH. They will be able to look back through the history of Israel and see the hand of God in it. Indeed we have. This language is very similar to the final verse of Psalm 22. They will come and declare his righteousness to a people yet unborn that He has done this (22:31). The 22nd Psalm points us to Jesus and his victory through suffering. It is a lesson we can apply to this psalm as well. God has not abandoned us in our pain, but he is suffering with us and redeeming that suffering. One of the reasons that YHWH is worthy of our praise is that he “looked down from his holy height. From heaven he looked at the earth”. This is similar to Psalm 113:5,6 “Who is like the Lord our God,who is seated on high,who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?” This wasn’t in the psalmist’s mind, but we can’t help but think of incarnation as we see this psalm through the lens of Christ. YHWH not only looked down from his lofty height, he came down to earth and walked among us. And he dwells with us today in the Holy Spirit. This is the best news in facing suffering. God doesn’t always take away our suffering, even though that would certainly be our wish. Instead he joins us in our suffering. He has genuine empathy and is a real friend. Whatever suffering you’ve experienced, God has experienced it as well. This is good news for the poor. God looked down on us from heaven, heard our prayer, and came to our rescue and came to walk alongside us in this life. He has done this for generation after generation and will do it for those who have yet to be born. This is why we have hope and why we can still bring babies into the world. God has looked down from heaven, and as one preacher said, “He walked down the stairs of heaven with a baby in his arms.”

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die,

21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise,

22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.

These verses complete the previous verse which declared that YHWH was looking down from heaven to the earth. He was looking down in order to hear the cries of the prisoners and to set free those that were doomed to die, literally, “sons of death”. The term “prisoners” here likely refers to those in exile, taken prisoner by an invading army. This was common practice in the ancient world, so this is not referring to men kept in prison, but rather men who have been deprived of their rights and have generally become impoverished slaves. Setting these slaves free means bringing them home to Zion to worship in those environs and to live in freedom. This psalm again points us to Jesus who declared in his first recorded sermon there in his hometown of Nazarth, quoting a messianic text from Isaiah 61:1-2, “I have come to proclaim release to the captives.” Jesus wasn’t talking about unlocking criminals to roam the streets, but to set them and others free from sin and death, the two great enemies of mankind. To no longer be a slave to sin is the greatest freedom of all. There are plenty of people walking the streets as free men who are enslaved in their hearts to all kinds of unworthy things. There are addictions and temptations that lock men in cages stronger than any prison cell. Good news, God has heard your cry and is coming down to set you free so that you can declare his praises with his people in his city. The church is the city of God, and the church is at its best when it is filled with former captives who are singing freedom’s song. The psalmist envisions the day with peoples and nations will gather together to worship YHWH, further evidence that this prophecy is not about opening the doors of prison cells. Nations and peoples are in bondage as well, to false ideas and worldviews, to cultural norms that are self-destructive, to laws that systematically oppress others and consider them less than human. We long for the day when the mosaic of nations will be gathered to worship. We see this already fulfilled in the church which has been in the vanguard of breaking down racial prejudice. I see it in modern worship where people of a variety of races are represented in worship leadership. Jesus is making this happen and when we declare the gospel we are pushing his agenda forward, making this prophecy reality. 

23 He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.

24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!”

The psalmist returns for a moment to his own afflicted circumstances and declares that God has broken his strength in the middle of his life and shortened his days. He is in the prime of his life when he should be working and leading his family, and yet he is stricken. So he asks that he not be taken away by death in the middle of his life. God endures from generation to generation, and so it’s not unreasonable to ask him to grant life so that the psalmist can live to see his grandchildren. Often you hear of people who are struck down in the middle of life, whether from an accident or illness. There is a greater sadness when this happens because of the understanding that they would typically have more years ahead of them. Of course it’s even worse in the case of a child. We grieve for what is lost. When someone dies after living a long life, while there is grief at the loss of their presence, there is gratitude for all that they were able to do during the long life. The psalmist is experiencing a life-altering event, whether that is becoming a refugee in a foreign land or some kind of severe physical ailment that has put him on the brink of death. He pleads with the eternal God for more time. All of us would do the same when someone we know (including ourselves) is “prematurely” threatened with disease and death. It is good to be reminded that God takes the long view of suffering. He endures from generation to generation. He’s seen it all and the passage of time is relative to him. Someday we will share in that timeless experience. There is a Twitter account called, Daily Death Reminder that simply posts every day. “You will die someday.” Sobering but true. Make the most of every day. You don’t have a right to a long life.  

25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

The psalmist continues to reflect on the eternal nature of God while the awareness of his own mortality is heightened. In the beginning, God fixed the earth, set its foundation. He crafted the heavens with his own hands. These have existed from the beginning, before the eyes of man even saw them. They are older than all the generations of men, and yet even they will perish some day. They have an expiration date. Just as surely as clothing wears out from daily use, the earth and the heavens will as well. The second law of thermodynamics states that energy is always moving towards stasis. Entropy can never increase in a closed system. As far as we know, the universe is a closed system and eventually it will all wear out. The stars will flame out and eventually everything will go dark. Any race of humans that endures that long will pass away as well. The universe itself has an expiration date, so why would we think that we could live forever in the universe? We are mortal, just like the universe. It is built into the system. The only thing that remains unchanged is God himself. It’s significant that the author of Hebrews applies this text to Jesus, the God-Man who walked the earth during the lifetime of the writer. The author understood that Jesus was God himself in the flesh, the eternal God, clothed in the garment of flesh, destined to die. And so God experienced death in Christ. God knows what it feels like to have your life cut short, to die in your prime at the age of 33. God never needed to experience death, but the author of Hebrews says that he “tasted death” for us. He chose to for our sake. A creator God who loves us that much will surely not abandon us in our suffering, nor will he abandon us when our flesh gives out and we breathe our last on this earth. Like a garment, our flesh will be changed and as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, we will be clothed with immortality.

27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.

28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

The heavens and earth shall pass away, but YHWH will not. He is the same and there is no end to his years. The Hebrew idiom is simple: “You He” (you are the same), “and your years are not completed/finished.” The eternal nature of God is a fundamental teaching of scripture from beginning to end. Unbound by time, He is eternally present. We cannot grasp what that means fully, but it does mean that He has unlimited patience, and this should give us hope. As Paul said, he is patient with our sin. “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17-18). Peter echoes the same in a different context: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 2:9). Let that encourage you to keep moving forward in your walk with the LORD. There is no sin too great that God cannot forgive. Just as in Psalm 22, the psalmist here looks forward to his children and grandchildren dwelling secure in the land. He sees the exiles return and root themselves once again in the land, enjoying the favor and protection of God generation after generation. This is the desire of a parent, to see their children and grandchildren do well and pass on their faith and character to the next generation. For a psalm that began so dismally, it ends with tremendous hope. The eternal God will see to it that the dark times will come to an end and your children will enjoy security and stability in the land. Consider the eternal nature of God today, and rest in the promise of his faithful care of you and your children.