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 - First Version

  1  O Lord, unto my pray'r give ear,
        my cry let come to thee;
  2  And in the day of my distress
        hide not thy face from me.

     Give ear to me; what time I call,
        to answer me make haste:
  3  For, as an hearth, my bones are burnt,
        my days, like smoke, do waste.

  4  My heart within me smitten is,
        and it is withered
     Like very grass; so that I do
        forget to eat my bread.

  5  By reason of my groaning voice
        my bones cleave to my skin.
  6  Like pelican in wilderness
        forsaken I have been:

     I like an owl in desert am,
        that nightly there doth moan;
  7  I watch, and like a sparrow am
        on the house-top alone.

  8  My bitter en'mies all the day
        reproaches cast on me;
     And, being mad at me, with rage
        against me sworn they be.

  9  For why? I ashes eaten have
        like bread, in sorrows deep;
     My drink I also mingled have
        with tears that I did weep.

 10  Thy wrath and indignation
        did cause this grief and pain;
     For thou hast lift me up on high,
        and cast me down again.

 11  My days are like unto a shade,
        which doth declining pass;
     And I am dried and withered,
        ev'n like unto the grass.

 12  But thou, Lord, everlasting art,
        and thy remembrance shall
     Continually endure, and be
        to generations all.

 13  Thou shalt arise, and mercy have
        upon thy Zion yet;
     The time to favor her is come,
        the time that thou hast set.

 14  For in her rubbish and her stones
        thy servants pleasure take;
     Yea, they the very dust thereof
        do favor for her sake.

 15  So shall the heathen people fear
        the Lord's most holy name;
     And all the kings on earth shall dread
        thy glory and thy fame.

 16  When Zion by the mighty Lord
        built up again shall be,
     In glory then and majesty
        to men appear shall he.

 17  The prayer of the destitute
        he surely will regard;
     Their prayer will he not despise,
        by him it shall be heard.

 18  For generations yet to come
        this shall be on record:
     So shall the people that shall be
        created praise the Lord.

 19  He from his sanctuary's height
        hath downward cast his eye;
     And from his glorious throne in heav'n
        the Lord the earth did spy;

 20  That of the mournful prisoner
        the groanings he might hear,
     To set them free that unto death
        by men appointed are:

 21  That they in Zion may declare
        the Lord's most holy name,
     And publish in Jerusalem
        the praises of the same;

22   When as the people gather shall
          in troops with one accord,
     When kingdoms shall assembled be
          to serve the highest Lord.

 23  My wonted strength and force he hath
        abated in the way,
     And he my days hath shortened:
 24      Thus therefore did I say,

     My God, in mid-time of my days
        take thou me not away:
     From age to age eternally
        thy years endure and stay.

 25  The firm foundation of the earth
        of old time thou hast laid;
     The heavens also are the work
        which thine own hands have made.

 26  Thou shalt for evermore endure,
        but they shall perish all;
     Yea, ev'ry one of them wax old,
        like to a garment, shall:

     Thou, as a vesture, shalt them change,
        and they shall changed be:
 27  But thou the same art, and thy years
        are to eternity.

 28  The children of thy servants shall
        continually endure;
     And in thy sight, O Lord, their seed
        shall be established sure.

 


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