Psalm 102-10.26.22
Scripture
Psalm 102: 1, 12:
1 Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you….12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.
Observation-What does it say?
“The title of this psalm is A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD. This afflicted one borrowed his tone and some of his phrasing from Job, who is the Old Testament’s greatest example of affliction. Many phrases also match others in the psalms. This psalm describes Jerusalem (Zion) in a state of ruin. If this is taken as literal ruin, the psalm may have been written by those in exile who mourned over both their personal and national affliction (David Guzik commentary on enduringword.com).”
I looked up the word lament and it means “to express deep regret, grief, or sorrow….Lamenting is a common theme in the Bible.” (gotquestions.org)
Understanding-What does it mean?
Even though the Psalmist laments, he doesn’t stay there the whole time.
In verses 1-11, the Psalmist laments, but in verse 12, changes his tone to worshipping God for Who He is.
Anakin Cerda did an amazing job with his sermon on Sunday and spoke about King David (the one who wrote most of the Psalms) and how he cries out (or laments) to God, but “slowly turns his tone into into praise and worship to God.” Anakin used Psalm 6 to illustrate this point. If you missed his sermon, please feel free to check it out on YouTube at this link:
Life Application
It’s okay to lament to God. Just don’t stay at the lamenting phase the whole time.
God wants us to be honest with Him. He wants to hear the good, bad and ugly. That’s the type of relationship He desires with us. He is not an insecure God who is unable to handle our human emotions. He already knows it all. However, in the midst of our complaining, pain, suffering, anger, confusion, affliction, weeping, lamenting, tiredness, etc., we must remember to always switch our tone back to praise and worship for Who He is, despite the circumstances and hardships around us.
Come join us tonight at 7p for Worship Wednesday. Let’s pray for each other’s afflictions and problems, but make sure not to keep our focus on that. Let’s focus on worshipping the One who is worthy ALL the time! It’s amazing what happens when we keep our eyes fixed on Him amidst it all.
Dear Lord, please forgive me for the times I’ve stayed in the lamenting phase too long and failed to switch to praising Your good and loving character. You are good all the time and as the Psalmist says, “But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” Amen.
-Michelle Gaddi