Messiah’s complaint and comforts in the days of His humiliation 

As regards this psalm, who and when are unanswerable. There must have been a certain occasion, and yet it can have relevance to all stages of the church’s history. But there seems good grounds to understand it as spoken concerning the times of Christ. In Hebrews 1:10, there is a reference to vv. 25-27, which guides us to accept that reference. 

Affliction lies heavy on the writer, as it did on Christ. There is a cry of being overwhelmed, and the anguish of loneliness and fears. But there is a positive assurance that God was not unmindful of the experience, nor of the state of the church, and He would arise. 

God looks down from Heaven, and comes down from Heaven to rescue His people. Time and time again His glory has appeared in Zion, and His favour has renewed the church and delivered them from their weakness. These consolations are “written for the generation to come.” Let us believe then, it is still possible.

Psalm 102 - Second Version

  1  Lord, hear my pray'r, and let my cry
        Have speedy access unto thee;
  2  In day of my calamity
        O hide not thou thy face from me.

     Hear when I call to thee; that day
        An answer speedily return:
  3  My days, like smoke, consume away,
        And, as an hearth, my bones do burn.

  4  My heart is wounded very sore,
        And withered, like grass doth fade:
     I am forgetful grown therefore
        To take and eat my daily bread.

  5  By reason of my smart within,
        And voice of my most grievous groans,
     My flesh consumed is, my skin,
        All parched, doth cleave unto my bones.

  6  The pelican of wilderness,
        The owl in desert, I do match;
  7  And, sparrow-like, companionless,
        Upon the house's top, I watch.

  8  I all day long am made a scorn,
        Reproached by my malicious foes:
     The madmen are against me sworn,
        The men against me that arose.

  9  For I have ashes eaten up,
        To me as if they had been bread;
     And with my drink I in my cup
        Of bitter tears a mixture made.

 10  Because thy wrath was not appeased,
        And dreadful indignation:
     Therefore it was that thou me raised,
        And thou again didst cast me down.

 11  My days are like a shade alway,
        Which doth declining swiftly pass;
     And I am withered away,
        Much like unto the fading grass.

 12  But thou, O Lord, shalt still endure,
        From change and all mutation free,
     And to all generations sure
        Shall thy remembrance ever be.

 13  Thou shalt arise, and mercy yet
        Thou to mount Zion shalt extend:
     Her time for favor which was set,
        Behold, is now come to an end.

 14  Thy saints take pleasure in her stones,
        Her very dust to them is dear.
 15  All heathen lands and kingly thrones
        On earth thy glorious name shall fear.

 16  God in his glory shall appear,
        When Zion he builds and repairs.
 17  He shall regard and lend his ear
        Unto the needy's humble pray'rs:

     Th' afflicted's pray'r he will not scorn.
 18      All times this shall be on record:
     And generations yet unborn
        Shall praise and magnify the Lord.

 19  He from his holy place looked down,
        The earth he viewed from heav'n on high;
 20  To hear the pris'ner's mourning groan,
        And free them that are doomed to die;

 21  That Zion, and Jerus'lem too,
        His name and praise may well record,
 22  When people and the kingdoms do
        Assemble all to praise the Lord.

 23  My strength he weakened in the way,
        My days of life he shortened.
 24  My God, O take me not away
        In mid-time of my days, I said:

     Thy years throughout all ages last.
 25      Of old thou hast established
     The earth's foundation firm and fast:
        Thy mighty hands the heav'ns have made.

 26  They perish shall, as garments do,
        But thou shalt evermore endure;
     As vestures, thou shalt change them so;
        And they shall all be changed sure:

 27  But from all changes thou art free;
        Thy endless years do last for aye.
 28  Thy servants, and their seed who be,
        Established shall before thee stay.


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