by Rev. Alex. McPherson
Psalm One Hundred and Two
To people like ourselves who use only the Psalms in public worship, this one is well known as containing a prediction of the Church’s future which encourages us in our own dark day. Yet it will be observed that the prophecy of verses 13-22 stands amidst subject matter of a very different kind and can be properly understood only when taken together with these sad topics. Different opinions have been held about the authorship of the Psalm, but it has the appearance of having been written by some exile in far off Babylon who, pressed between painful disease of body and deep sorrow and concern for Zion, lifts up his heart to God in prayer. He may soon die, but the changeless power and grace of God will ensure the continuance of the Church, and the children of believers like himself will not perish from off the earth.
The title reads, “A prayer for the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” It is not unusual for the godly to be afflicted. Their gracious state does not render them immune from trouble, but rather tends to expose them to it. They meet with foes who did not trouble them previously; the world, the flesh and Satan; and the anodynes of worldly interests, and distractions, and pleasures, are denied to them. They may be brought into affliction to discipline them to God’s service, or to teach them something which they are to pass on to others for their edification and help. Job’s great afflictions were for the latter purpose, and so were Paul’s for he tells us so. “The God of all comfort comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” The psalmist’s affliction is overwhelming, but he does the wise thing; he pours out his trouble before the Lord. Not bitter railing or cursing marks his response to severe affliction, but a turning to the Rock that is higher than he. Is that your refuge too?
Verses 1, 2. “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.” These verses contain the elements of true prayer to God in contrast with a mere formal approach. The supplicant is concerned, first, that the Lord would hear. The prayer which is not concerned about its being heard by the heart-searching God is a poor imitation of the real thing. True prayer is not only addressed to God in terms which express reverence, dependence and unworthiness, but it believes that God does hear, and would come to a full stop if the thought prevailed that it was not likely to be heard. Secondly, the petitioner desires near access to God; “Let my cry come unto thee.” His case is urgent, he cannot but cry, and he wishes that cry to go right to the heart of God. Thirdly, the psalmist wishes a gracious hearing; “Hide not thy face from me . . . trouble.” How ungracious Israel had been when God called to them! “They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear.” (Zech. 7, v. 11.) Well for us that his thoughts are not like ours, and that there is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared! This earnest pleader, fourthly, desires that God would hear attentively and mark every feature of his sad complaint; “Incline thine ear unto me. And, lastly, he needs a prompt reply; “Answer me speedily.” Surely all this adds up to a real prayer, one earnestly and fervently made in a time of great need!
Verses 3-5. “For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.”
In these three verses the psalmist describes his diseased condition of body. His disease is burning him up; his body is being consumed away. The malady had penetrated to his very heart, and sapped his strength to the extent that he now had no appetite and was literally reduced to skin and bone.
Verses 6, 7. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.”
Here he mournfully describes his loneliness. Like the solitary pelican of the swamplands, and the owl which dwells amidst ruins, he feels remote from any other person. Again, he sees himself like a sparrow which has lost its mate and sits alone on the housetop. The word “watch” gives the first hint that it is more than personal trouble which afflicts him. His inward eye is ranging over the reported desolations of Jerusalem and Judea; yes, and over the Church of God which they represent.
Verse 8. “Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.”
Another hint is given of the plight of the poor dying exile in a strange land. Persecuted for his patriotism and taunted on account of the religion of Jehovah, he knew well the experience of others who said; “They that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Sion.” And he was such a miserable object that, when the Chaldæans wished to curse someone, they desired that he should be as this poor Jew was.