Psalm 102 - Part 1 - Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee

 

Psalm 102:1-12 A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord - Commentary by Dennis Edwards

102:1-2 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; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.

The psalmist is pouring out his heart to God in prayer as we all do when we are overwhelmed with grief, trouble, sickness, family problems, or whatever we may be going through.

102:3-5 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

The imagery seems to be that of depicting something that has been used up from over use or age. Old people with dementia forget to eat and as a result can become quite lean. The idea of his skin cleaving to his bones shows a picture of starvation. The next verse continues the imagery.

102:6a I am like a pelican of the wilderness: 

Now what does that mean, "A pelican of the wilderness?" I remember one day watching a wildlife documentary of Africa. It showed how after the heavy spring downfall a lake would be created, in an area south of the Savanah, and area that had formerly been almost desert.

The parent pelicans would come, nest and rear their young along the newly formed lake. But over the course of the summer, the lake would slowly start to dry up. The adult pelicans would eventually fly away with the young pelicans old enough to fly. However, those pelicans which were last to be born and still not so sure about flight would stay by the diminishing lake. Eventually they would starve to death as the lake turned to desert once again.

But before death, they cry out in the hope that their parents will return and save them. Their crying is in vain. Their parents will not return. The desperation of the dying baby pelicans could very well be what the author is describing. He using the imagery to  describe his own desperation for God. He is like a dying pelican in desperate need of water and rescue. We. too, look to God for help in the time of great affliction and distress. The psalmist may be feeling at that moment little hope that God will respond.

102:6b I am like an owl of the desert.

The owl is another lonely creature who hunts at dusk or nightfall. The desert or wilderness is a lonely desolate place. The psalmist is describing his feeling of isolation or loneliness in a hopeless or difficult situation like a desert.

102:7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

Do you ever feel like a lonely sparrow, lost and need of finding your family. Do you feel all alone without anyone to help you. The sparrow is a community creature, not a loner. It's difficult for him to survive on his own. Here's an old song that covers the question or feeling of abandonment by God. “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He’s watching you.”

God is watching over us even if we don't feel it at the moment. Jesus said, "Not one sparrow falls to the ground without Your Father knowing it. Even the very hairs of your head are counted. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31.

102:8 My enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

Sometimes it’s our own loved ones who criticize and mock us and are mad at us for our belief system. As they are the closest to us, it causes us great despair and grief.

102:9-10 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for You have lifted me up, and cast me down.

Whatever we are going through, we know the Lord is allowing it for our good. Like Job explained to his complaining wife. “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord,” Job 2:21b. Our tendency when we are going through a down cycle, a spiritual battle, or what we interpret as receiving a chastening from the Lord is to faint, lose faith, and be discouraged. We should remember that Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered. God means to bring good out of our suffering. Therefore, we should not faint, but be of good courage. The psalmist, however, is not feeling encouraged. He continues.

102:11 My days are like a shadow that declines; and I am withered like grass.

Here we see a two-fold imagery. The first is of life being a fleeting moment, like a shadow declining rapidly at the end of the day. The second is an imagery of weakness and old  age, described as the withering, dying grass. As we get older, we may feel or look like withered grass, or feel that our day of sunlight is coming to an end. The psalmist is discouraged. He is feeling his life is coming to an end, and that there's no use of continuing. 

102:12 But thou, O Lord, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

However, from here on in the psalmist begins to be positive. He begins to regain his faith. The psalm becomes more upbeat. By contrast to humanity’s mortality, the Lord is immortal. The Lord shall endure for eternity. God is eternal from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning and without end. We find that idea throughout the Bible. 

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

God is the eternal being that existed before time. He is the timeless, immaterial being that brought all things to existence and upholds them through His own power. Jesus is described in the New Testament with a similar description.

Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

The author of Hebrews tells us that God has spoken to us through His Son by whom also He has made the worlds and who is the express image of His person, and upholds all things by the word of His power, Hebrews 1:2-3.

The Gospel of John reiterates the same idea. 

John 1:1-3&14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

It is Jesus that has created both the material and the spiritual worlds and upholds them by the word of His power. Isaiah, also, mentions the everlasting God, the Creator.

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is He weary? There is no searching of His understanding.

We with our finite minds cannot fully understand the infinite God. He is beyond our understanding. Belief in Him, however, is the beginning of true understanding. Those that do not believe in Him lack understanding and are counted as fools. Elsewhere in Isaiah, Jesus is referred to as the “everlasting Father.”

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Jesus is the “everlasting Father” who was together with the Father since before time began. He's the second person of the Godhead: the Trinity - one Being in three persons. Jesus was the “voice of the Lord walking in the garden.” He talked with Abraham on the plains of Mamre. He walked before Moses on the top of Sinai. Finally, He came into the material world as a physical being through the Virgin Mary. 

Though He was of the nature of God, He limited and humbled Himself, and took on the nature of men. He later performed many unbelievable miracles, so that we would believe he was, not only the Messiah, but, also, the only begotten Son of the Father. To complete His mission, He submitted Himself to the will of the Father and the death of the cross. Three days later He rose in victory certifying His Godhood. He was indeed the prophesized “Servant,” who would take away the sins of the world, Isaiah 53:10.

Apostle John near to the close of his Gospel writes the following.

John 20:30-31 And many other signs (or miracles) truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name.

End of Part 1.