Reading: Psalm 102
God does not despise
the prayers and entreaties of the destitute (Psalm 102:17). The
destitute are those brought to the lowest low; they are desperate.
The description of this psalm in the Hebrew manuscript reads: A
Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint
before the LORD. (Psalm 102:1
ESV)
Many of us are well
aware Israel tested God by their complaining in the wilderness. They
were complaining because they didn't like God's provision and the
fact that He didn't bring them to a resort the week after they got
out of slavery. That kind of complaining is reprimanded in
Scripture. However, there is a complaint that God hears. In fact,
it is a whole category of prayer called “lament.” It is the
complaint of faith—the faith of the destitute that knows something
is wrong in the world and refuses to accept that God will do nothing
about it. Verses 1-11 demonstrate what those prayers often look like.
Hear
my prayer, LORD; let
my cry for help come
to you. 2Do
not hide your face from me when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. 3For
my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. 4My
heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
5In
my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. 6I
am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. 7I
lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. 8All
day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name
as a curse. 9For
I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears 10because
of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11My
days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
Job
prayed many prayers of lament in the middle portion of that book.
There are many psalms which are prayers of lament. We even find some
in the Gospels... most notably the application of Jeremiah 31:15 to
the slaughter of children in Bethlehem with Rachel weeping for her
children (Matthew 2:18). That was the ultimate lament and Matthew's
Gospel is pointing to the coming of Jesus Christ as the ultimate
answer to that lament.
The
psalmist brings his complaint in faith.
In Psalm 102:12 he begins to speak of what God is like. First he had
laid out his own situation and the reason for his crying out as he
is. Now he lays out truth about God that anchors his soul in the
middle of his desperate circumstances. In this, the psalmist speaks
of what he knows
God will do. This is his hope (meaning expectation; not wish).
13You
will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show
favor to her; the appointed time has come.... 15The
nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth
will revere your glory. 16For the LORD will rebuild
Zion and appear in his glory. 17He will respond to
the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
When
will God do this? Verse 13 alludes to the time for this: “for
it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.”
God will do this at the appointed time. When is it that this
“appointed time” comes?
When will all this happen?
This
will be written for a later generation,
and a newly created people will
praise the LORD: (Psalm
102:18 HCSB)
“Newly
created people” expresses
well the more literal, “a people yet to be created”. What
generation is this? Who
are these people yet to be created when the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory?
The
language of verse 13, “...for
it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come”
is reminiscent of Isaiah 49:8 and 2 Cor. 6:2. There in the time of
God's acceptance of us He listened (answered their cry); in the day
of salvation He came to their aid. And the context of 2 Corinthians
6:2 makes clear that this day is the day the Gospel is made known to
us that God is not holding our sins against us but rather Jesus bore
those sins and gave us his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
There
we discover who this “newly
created people”
are:
“Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, the new creation
has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2
Cor. 5:17) Psalm
102 is fulfilled in Christ and results in the creation of the church!
God
does not despise the complaint of the destitute. He suffers with
them. He is moved with compassion. He took on flesh that He might
bear their griefs and carry their sorrows (Isaiah 53:4 ESV). The
day that God ultimately answers all prayers of lament is the day we
hear the message of Jesus Christ and our hearts are opened to see
Christ and be saved.
For only in salvation can there truly be the answer to our griefs and
deliverance to a new heaven and earth where everything is made new.
God
hears the prisoner's groaning;
He
sets free those
condemned to die, so that they
may go forth in their freedom and declare the name of Yahweh in Zion.
God does this to assemble peoples (all nations) and kingdoms to serve
the Lord (Psalm 102:20-22). This reminds me of what Jesus declared
when He said, “He has sent me
to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to send forth the oppressed in their release...”
(Luke 4:18 my translation of the last phrase).
God
frees us and sends us to free others. God
hears our complaint and answers us in Jesus Christ. And then God uses
us to reach others and answer their complaint by saving them too.
No longer because of God's wrath will he cast us aside (Psalm
102:10).
[Side
note:
This does not mean that God does not also hear our cries and change
our circumstances (heal; provide; deliver). That would make this a
cold, unfeeling answer. It would also disregard the multitude of
times that God did answer and heal, raise to life, provide, etc. But
all of those “mini-salvations” are only small pieces along the
way in the grand salvation that we have in Jesus.
And without the grand salvation, they would be ultimately meaningless
as all would end in damnation.]
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
