Psalm 102 Commentary
The LORD is Ever The Same
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KEY THOUGHT: But You are the same, And Your years will have no end. [Psalm 102:27 NKJV]
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Psalm 102 NKJV
The Lord’s Eternal Love
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me speedily.
3 For my days [a]are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
So that I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my [b]skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me.
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 shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.
12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
15 So the [c]nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16 For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
19 For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
24 I said, “O my God,
Do not take me away in the midst of my days;
Your years are 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 [d]endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
28 The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”
Footnotes
a. Psalm 102:3 Lit. end in
b. Psalm 102:5 flesh
c. Psalm 102:15 Gentiles
d. Psalm 102:26 continue
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Psalm 102 Commentary
The psalmist contrasts two existences. Coming up first is the sphere of mortals. They are in distress; real suffering. The psalmist brings it home. He even forgets to eat his food. He is now only skin and bones. Lonely and abandoned, his name has become misfortune itself.
His days are like the evening shadow; he withers away like grass. Like smoke, his days vanish quickly.
Coming up second is the sphere of immortality, the world where God lives. He is enthroned forever. In the beginning, He laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of His hands. While we all perish, the Creator God remains. While we experience wear-and-tear and must be changed like clothing, the LORD God remains, and His years never come to an end.
Sections of this psalm are messianic because of Hebrews 1:10. The thought is that the God we interact with is the same Creator God. Colossians 1:16. He is called Jesus in the New Testament.
The psalm mentions “enemies” who are thought to be behind the psalmist’s suffering. But it also mentions God’s “indignation” and “wrath” as the main architect behind pain and suffering.
The LORD is behind all the troubles. It is the point that we find in the Book of Romans.
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. Romans 8:20a. And there is an important reason for this. The next verse in Romans explains it.
“…in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
Suffering, called frustration in Romans, therefore, serves an important role by exposing the futility of ungodliness. But importantly, it exposes the real need. The need for salvation becomes clear.
The psalmist is one such mortal looking at the Creator God for salvation.
For His part, the Creator God views the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death. Very important! Indeed, he did look down and in Jesus, brought salvation to mortals.
Mortals can groan, and they do. We are prisoners, caged by our own ungodliness and alienated from the Life-Giver. We are mortals by the will of the Creator God. How can we forget the story of Genesis 3?
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The gospel is exactly what it is, good news to the prisoners. Then, frustration will have served a purpose for mortals. Instead of being changed and discarded, the children of the servants of the LORD will live in God’s presence. And unlike smoke that vanishes quickly, their days will be established before the Creator God. Then we can hear afresh the words: “It is finished.” Salvation is finally here.
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