+ Lenten Midweek 4 – March 22nd, 2023 +
Psalm 102
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some psalms give us context about their origin and author. Psalm 51 last week, is a good example of that. Other psalms give us a reason for the psalm, a purpose, but no author to pinpoint when. Psalm 102 (today’s penitential psalm) is one such psalm.
We don’t know the who, when, or whys of its writing. Some think it was written by Hezekiah in the face of Babylonian onslaught. But whoever the Lord inspired to write it did so with the whole range and realm of human experience in mind. We are meant to see and hear ourselves in this psalm.
There’s a little heading before the psalm begins. Quite descriptive actually. A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before YHWH. That’s the psalmist. But that’s also you and me. Afflicted. And so the psalmist invites us to join our lament with his:
Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you!
When we see something ugly, something disgusting, or when we’re so angry with someone – we often say, “I don’t want to see that. I can’t stomach that. I can’t even look at you right now.”
The Psalmist knows that YHWH is nothing like that, nothing like us. He knows that YHWH does not hide his face from our distress and afflictions. Rather, YHWH turns his face toward us. He knows that YHWH is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love. And so he prays, and invites us to pray with all boldness and confidence.
Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress!
This psalm opens with a holy demand based not on the holiness of the one praying it, but on the steadfast love of the holy God who has commanded us to pray and promised to hear us and deliver us in the day of trouble. And to do so in his Son Jesus.
Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
Here in Psalm 102, our Lord invites us to join the psalmist in pouring out our complaints towards him. To voice our cries for mercy. to confess our sin. To address our afflictions. To cast all our burdens on him, for he cares for you.
Luther calls says this is what God has invited us to do, to take his promises to hear and answer and rescue and throw them back in God’s ears with our prayers.
And so we join the psalmist in doing just that. We bring our afflictions before our Lord.
Afflictions of our sin and suffering…when our bones burn like a furnace. When we are struck down by our own guilt and shame. Restlessness. Sleepless nights. Tossing and turning because of what we’ve done and left undone. When we remember that we are like the grass that withers and decays and dies. When we are left alone and lonely and weary because of our own sin.
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;
I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
Afflictions come from outside of us as well. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
Family. Friends. Loved ones. People we thought we knew well betray us. Break trust. Fail us. Hurt us as we have no doubt done to others, in thought, word, and deed.
At times, affliction comes to us from God himself. because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
Where do we go with our affliction? We follow the first words of Psalm 102. When we are faint, afflicted, burdened…we pour out our complaints to YHWH. To the one who gave us these words. To the one who gave us His own Son.
Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
If we are meant to see ourselves in Psalm 102, we are also meant to see Christ. For he is the one who commands us to pray, promises to hear, and has already delivered us.
In Hebrews 1, Psalm 102 is quoted in pointing us to Christ. “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Psalm 102 and Hebrews and the rest of the Scripture remind us that not only will our Lord’s years have no end, so too will his mercy and grace have no end. Your afflictions, whatever they may be, they will come to an end. They will perish. But not our Lord’s mercy for you.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
Every single one of our afflictions. All our distresses, sin, and death. Jesus took all of those upon himself on the cross for you. Jesus was afflicted for you. He cried out to the Father for you. The Father’s face was turned away from His Son for you. Our Lord heard you and still hears you and answers all your prayers and cries of distress with a word: it is finished.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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