Posted by
R.P. Woitowitz Sr. on Thursday, May 21, 2009 8:39:50 AM
Psalm 102
A prayer of the afflicted, when he shall be in distress, and
pour forth his meditation before the Lord.
1 O Lord hear my prayer, and let my 1cry come
unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me in the time of my
trouble: incline thine ears unto me, when I call, make
haste to hear me.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and
my bones are burnt like an hearth.
4 Mine heart is smitten, and withered like grass,
because I forgat to eat my bread. (a)
5 For the voice of my groaning, my bones do
cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like
an owl of the deserts.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the
house top.
8 Mine enemies revile me daily, and they that
rage against me, have sworn against me.
9 Surely I have eaten ashes as bread, and mingled
my drink with weeping,
10 Because of thine 1indignation and thy wrath:
for thou hast heaved me up, and cast me down. (b)
11 My days are like a shadow that fadeth, and I
am withered like grass. (see a)
12 But thou, O Lord, dost remain forever, and
thy remembrance from generation to generation. (c)
13 Thou wilt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for
the time to have mercy thereon, for the appointed
time is come. (d)
14 For thy servants delight in the stones thereof,
and have pity on the dust thereof.
15 Then the heathen shall fear the Name of the
Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory,
16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, and shall
appear 1in his glory,
17 And shall turn unto the prayer of the desolate,
and not despise their prayer. (e)
18 This shall be written for the generation to come:
and the people which shall be 1created, shall praise
the Lord.
19 For he hath looked down from the height of his
Sanctuary: out of the heaven did the Lord behold
the earth,
20 That he might hear the mourning of the prisoner,
and deliver the children of death. (f)
21 That they may declare the Name of the Lord
in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the people shall be gathered together,
and the kingdoms to serve the Lord.
23 He abated my strength in the way, and shortened
my days.
24 And I said, O my God, take me not away in the
midst of my days: thy years endure from generation
to generation.
25 Thou hast aforetime laid the foundation of
the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine
hands. (g)
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:
even they all shall wax old as doth a garment: as a
vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be
changed.
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall not
fail. (h)
28 The children of thy servants shall continue,
and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight.
Editor’s thought - It seems that the Psalmist is conveying many things. In the first half vs. 1 - 11 it is obvious that he is pouring out his heart to God. While it is not visible, this pouring out of grief is the result if his own recognition of his sins and imperfections.
In the second half vs. 12 - 28 we find that although he is aware of his condition as a result of his own actions he still praises God, and acknowledges God’s mercy and grace. Additionally His mercy and grace is forever, and not just for those that have come before, or those that are of the present age, but those who are yet to come, until the King returns to claim his children.
(a) Verses 3 - 4
2 Kings 18:26
Whose inhabitants have small power, and are
afraid, and confounded: they are like the grass of the
field, and green herb, or grass on the house tops, or
as corn blasted before it be grown.
Hosea 13:3
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud,
and as the morning dew that passeth away, as
the chaff that is driven with a whirlwind out of
the floor, and as the smoke that goeth out of the
chimney.
James 4:14
And yet ye cannot tell what shall be tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time, and afterward vanisheth away.)
(b) Verses 8 - 10
Job 19:11 - 19
11 And he hath kindled his wrath against me, and
counteth me as one of his enemies.
12 His armies came together, and made their way
upon me, and camped about my tabernacle.
13 He hath removed my brethren far from me, and
also mine acquaintance were strangers unto me.
14 My neighbors have forsaken me, and my familiars
have forgotten me.
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids took
me for a stranger: for I was a stranger in their sight.
16 I called my servant, but he would not answer,
though I prayed him with my mouth.
17 My breath was strange unto my wife, though I
prayed her for the children’s sake of mine own body.
18 The wicked also despised me, and when I rose,
they spake against me.
19 All my secret friends abhorred me, and they
whom I loved, are turned against me.
Job 32:13
Lest ye should say, We have found wisdom:
for God hath cast him down, and no man.
(c) Verse 12
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the
word of our God shall stand forever.
Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good: his mercy is everlasting,
and his truth is from generation to generation.
Isaiah 51:6 - 9
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon
the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a
garment, and they that dwell therein, shall perish in
like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and
my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7 Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my Law. Fear ye not
the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
rebukes.
8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
and the worm shall eat them like wood: but my
righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from
generation to generation.
(d) Verse 13
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 17
1 To all things there is an appointed time, and
a time to every purpose under the heaven.
17 I thought in mine heart, God will judge the just
and the wicked: for time is there for every purpose
and for every work.
Ecclesiastes 8:6
For to every purpose there is a time and judgment,
because the 1misery of man is great upon him.
(e) Verse 17
Nehemiah 1:6
I pray thee let thine ears be attent, and thine
eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which
I pray before thee daily, day and night for the children
of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of
the children of Israel, which we have sinned against
thee, both I and my father’s house have sinned:
Psalm 9:10
And they that know thy Name, will trust in thee:
for thou, Lord, hast not failed them that seek thee.
Proverbs 8:17
I love them that love me: and they that seek
me 1early shall find me.
(f) Verse 20
Editor’s thought - there are two ways to be bound in chains, one is the literal and the other spiritually. Both are binding, the former relating to the physical wellbeing and condition of the individual and the latter to the spirit of a child of God. Who among us are not bound by something that we struggle to control and suppress in our lives? We all have vices, some that perhaps would be considered worse or more abhorrent than others but still they bind us in both ways.
Acts 12:5 - 7
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer
was made of the Church unto God for him.
6 And when Herod would have brought him out
unto the people, the same night slept Peter between
two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers
before the door, kept the prison.
7 And behold the Angel of the Lord came upon
them, and a light shined in the house, and he smote
Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise
quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
Mark 5:2 - 8
2 And when he was come out of the ship, there
met him incontinently out of the graves, a man
1which had an unclean spirit:
3 Who had his abiding among the graves, and
no man could bind him, no not with chains:
4 Because that when he was often bound with
fetters and chains, he plucked the chains asunder,
and brake the fetters in pieces, neither could any
man tame him.
5 And always both night and day he cried in the
mountains, and in the graves, and struck himself
with stones.
6 And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran, and
worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most
High God? I will that thou swear to me by God,
that thou torment me not.
8 (For he said unto him, Come out of the man,
thou unclean spirit.)
(g) Verse 25
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth.
Isaiah 40:21
Know ye nothing? have ye not heard it? hath
it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not
understood it by the foundation of the earth?
Matthew 25:34
Then shall the king say to them on his right
hand, Come ye 1blessed of my father: take the
inheritance of the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world.
(h) Verse 27
Hebrews 1:10 - 12
10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast 1established
the earth, and the heavens are the works
of thine hands.
11 They shall perish, but thou dost remain, and
they all shall wax old as doth a garment,
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and
thy years shall not fail.
Hebrews 13:8
Remember them which have the oversight of
you, which have declared unto you the word of God:
whose faith follow, considering what hath been the
end of their conversation. Jesus Christ yesterday,
and today, the same also is forever.