LISTEN TO ME, LORD
Opening Prayer
I come with gratitude today, Holy God, knowing that you always hear me when I pray, and that you always understand and answer.
Read PSALM 102
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
3 For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud
and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
9 For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears
10 because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations.
25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 102:1 In Hebrew texts 102:1-28 is numbered 102:2-29.
- Psalm 102:23 Or By his power
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Where do you need God’s help now? Maybe you need him to bring reassurance or to intervene in some way, or maybe you want him to move in someone else’s life. Let him hear your cry for help.This psalm is the fifth of the so-called penitential psalms (Psalms 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143). They have been given this title because of their use in church liturgy at the beginning of the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Its superscription (the words that introduce the psalm in verse 1) identifies the writer’s state of mind. He feels afflicted and weak; this is his lament.
Some commentators see this psalm as the words of David, while others date it to a time when the nation was in exile and the psalmist was lamenting his nation’s losses. But our attention is drawn to the poet’s spiritual and emotional condition. He is not in a good way, and he pours out a lament. Lament is not a popular genre within modern worship. We generally like our songs to be happy, even triumphant.
But there are many psalms of lament in the collection we have— almost a third. These are sometimes of a personal nature (e.g., Psalm 86) and at other times express the grievances of a community (e.g., Psalm 12). Just as loss is inevitable in our lives, so must lament form a regular part of our personal and corporate worship.
Apply
Take time to pour out your deepest cries and laments to the Lord.
Closing prayer
Thank you, Jesus, that you are the God of the brokenhearted and are able to heal where time cannot. You empathize with our every weakness and sorrow.
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