Psalm 102:1-14 - Confidence in Suffering

Psalm 102:1-14

¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord! and let my cry for help come to You.
² Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call answer me quickly.
³ For my days have been consumed in smoke, and my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
⁴ My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, indeed, I forget to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of the loudness of my groaning my bones cling to my flesh.
⁶ I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
⁷ I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

⁸ My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.
⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping
¹⁰ Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, for You have lifted me up and cast me away.
¹¹ My days are like a lengthened shadow, and I wither away like grass.

¹² But You, O Lord, abide forever, and Your name to all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust.

Message: Confidence in Suffering

Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying: This concept of corporate solidarity (unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group) is actually a new discovery for me, yet it does make sense now and it is making more sense all the time. In Scripture, I do see suffering among the masses for the sins of a few and blessings for the masses for the goodness of a few.

• Hezekiah's faithfulness during Sennacherib's invasion kept the entire nation safe from Assyria even though there were certainly unfaithful Jews living in the land (Isaiah 36-37)
• When God sent the people into exile because the majority of them were impenitent in their wickedness, faithful Jews such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel were carried off along with them (2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 43:1-7, Ezekiel 1:1)

It is an interesting concept that has been intriguing me of late. I guess it is somewhat opposite of the way we are trained and taught to think. The idea of "what goes around comes around" or "You get what you deserve" or "one thing leads to another" gives this idea over and over that results in life are based upon your own bad decisions or personal sins. For example, if I struggle with looking at other women at times, does that mean God will pluck out my eye or cause me to have horrible eye problems?

But, how does one explain people that live good lives and die young or even Christians that are following the Lord getting a brain aneurysm and dying? We are baffled why one things happens to one person, but it doesn't happen to someone else. It seems random. But, could it be that God is judging humanity in general and it comes about through the suffering of some people in the society.

Perhaps the Psalmist here is crying to God of something of the sort. This is his cry, as he states Do not hide your face from me. He is hurting as he mentions the loudness of his bones. And even through his pain, he reminds me that I can still praise God. But You, O Lord, abide forever, and Your name to all generations. That's the perspective I want and need in my life: to keep praising God no matter what. 

Promise: Be confident that I will trust in My Creator even when I am walking through undeserved suffering.

My Prayer: Lord, help me to keep my trust in You throughout the circumstances of life. Help me to stay with you and remain in You no matter what occurs. My response should always be to pray for your mercy. Help me to acknowledge my sin. But forgive my generation and the apathy they have toward you. You are great and your ways are great and I can continue to lean on you, no matter what. Increase my faith and confidence in You.