"A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
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!
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.
6 I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
7 I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
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,
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.
12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned for ever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favour her;
the appointed time has come.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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!”
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,
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."
Psalm 102
With the general view of the Psalm established in the previous note, it is now possible to look at it in some detail. In the opening verses (1, 2) commentators rightly point out that there are echoes and borrowings from the words of other Psalms: for 'let my cry...' see Psalm 18:6; for 'hide not Thy face...' see Psalm 27:9; for 'when I am in trouble...' see Psalm 59:16; for 'incline Thine ear' see Psalm 31:2; for 'in the day when I call' see Psalm 56:9; for 'answer me speedily' see Psalm 69:17. This could be regarded as artificial; but it is much nearer the mark to realise that the Psalmist's mind and heart were impregnated by the Word, and that in expressing his deepest feelings he used Scriptures naturally - it was part of his life. 'They are nonetheless his own, because they have been the cry of others'. The Psalmist's plight and plaint are unfolded in 3-11 in a series of graphic images, in which the physical and the emotional and spiritual interact with one another. He is passing through the fires (3); he is off his food (4); he is unable to sleep (7); he feels isolated (6 - the pelican is a solitary bird). The reference in 10, 11 is taken by commentators to refer to a consciousness of guilt and sin, which has caused the Psalmist's trouble. Yet, there may be another possible interpretation. One thinks of Job, in similar circumstances, uttering his plaint against God for so doing to him; and at one point (9:24) he cries out, 'If it is not God, who is it?' Who, indeed? It could be the devil! Perhaps there is an element of the demonic lurking in this distress and desolation. It may not, in fact, be as dark as this in reality - it may be that Satan has clouded the issue more than he - or we - may realise. The darkness breaks in 12ff - and sometimes the very recognition that Satan is at work in it brings light into the darkness - and the Psalmist catches a vision of the eternal changelessness of God: 'I may be dying, but He is not dead!' This is the way out: the Psalmist's personal burden, and his burden for the nation, being interlocked, cannot be separated, and therefore the notion of deliverance, which comes from the vision of the Throne, is for both. Zion cannot die, nor can the Psalmist, while God lives.