Psalm 102. We're not going to do the whole thing.
We're going to do the first little bit of it,
and Lord willing, we'll do the last little bit
of it next week. We don't really know who wrote
this psalm, but it's a psalm that's not so unsimilar
from some of the others that we see. I think
it's a psalm that probably everybody can relate
to at some point in their life. Psalm 102. Let's
pray and we'll get started. God, we come to you
and we thank you that we have freedom to come
into your house tonight and sing these songs
and just love on one another and look at your
word. And I pray, God, that you would just help
us tonight if maybe we're one of these. like
this passage talks about, dear Lord. There are
times in our life where we feel afflicted, where
we just feel like everything is just falling
apart, dear Lord. And I pray, God, that tonight
we would feel your presence, that we would know
that you are nearby, that maybe even tonight
if we're having a good day, dear Lord, that we
just took this passage away and remember it when
our time of affliction comes. I pray that your
Holy Spirit will be with us, that you would help
me to preach and teach. Your words that you would
hide me behind the cross. You'd free us from
distractions. And all for your glory. In Jesus'
name I ask it. Amen. The superscription for this
psalm reads, A prayer of an afflicted person
who is weak and pours out his lament before the
Lord. Now, I like that superscription because
I think that sums up. how we all feel at some
point. There are all times in our life for every
one of us that we feel that kind of affliction
or we feel depression or we feel just overwhelmed
or we want to give up. And that's what this language
in this psalm talks about. It talks about a person
going through hard times, a person who is weak,
a person who is calling out to the Lord. And
that's exactly what we need to do. On the times
that we feel afflicted, on the times that we
feel overwhelmed, on the times that we want to
give up, we have to call out to the Lord in our
weakness and seek His strength. Verse 1, Lord,
hear my prayer. That's a good place to start
in our life. We probably all know we should pray,
and we probably all do pray, and maybe prayer
is the first thing we do when situations arise
in our life, or maybe it's not. Maybe this is
a good reminder for us to know where to start
when we have to make decisions, when we have
troubles in our life, when we have worries in
our life. Perhaps the first thing we need to
do is pray. Lord, hear my prayer. Hear my prayer.
God knows our situations. He knows what we go
through, but he still wants us to come to him.
And there's a lot of strength that comes from
that. We don't want to fall into the habit of
saying, well, God knows what I need before I
even ask it. Well, he does, but he still wants
us to ask. He still wants us to call out to him.
There's strength in that when we seek him, when
we humble ourselves, when we recognize our weakness.
And we know that we need help from the Lord.
And the psalmist did here. Lord, hear my prayer.
Let my cry for help come before you. Do not hide
your face from me in the day of trouble. Listen
closely to me. Answer me quickly when I call.
That's one of the scariest things when we pray.
And perhaps we wonder if the Lord's there. Maybe
we don't always feel His presence. Sometimes
we do. Sometimes we feel the Lord's presence
and we feel the joy of the Lord and the peace
of the Lord. But maybe there are other seasons
in our life where we're going through affliction
and hardships and we don't feel the Lord's presence
in the same way. And maybe we wonder if He's
there or we wonder if He cares or we wonder if
this is the time that we've sinned too much or
is God... even listening to me anymore. And what
does the psalmist say? God, don't hide your face
from me. We know that we need the Lord's presence.
We know that when things get as bad as we think
they can possibly get, that the only hope that
we have comes from the Lord. And the psalmist
recognized that. Lord, hear my prayer. God, don't
be far from me. Don't hide your face from me
because God, I cannot keep going. If you don't
give me the strength to keep going. Now, I suspect
that we've probably all felt that way in our
life. There have probably been times that we
said, I don't know how I'm going to make it another
day. I don't know how I'm going to get through
this situation with family. I don't know how
I'm going to get through this health situation.
I don't know how I can spend another day at that
job. I don't know how this marriage is going
to get any better. I don't know how I'm going
to break this addiction. I mean, there are things
that we just, we come up against them in our
life, and we do not know how we are going to
get through it. And the sad part about that is,
is that there are a lot of people in our world
that don't know how they're going to get through
it, and they've never read the Word of God, and
they don't know of Jesus Christ, and they don't
know of a God who loves them. Because I would
venture to guess that probably for all of us
in this room, hopefully, that when we come to
those situations where we don't know how we're
going to make it another day, we probably do
exactly what the psalmist did. We say, Lord,
hear my prayer. God, I cannot take another step
if you are not with me. God, I cannot go into
that office one more time. God, I cannot go for
another treatment. God, I cannot deal with whatever
it may be. God, I do not have the strength. God,
if you are not with me, I cannot go. And we call
out to the Lord in our weakness and he becomes
our strength. And praise God that we have the
word of God and we have scriptures like this
to remind us of that. Because so many people
in our world are in despair, and they do not
have hope. But those who are in Christ do not
give in to despair because we know what hope
is. And whatever the psalmist's affliction was
here, he knew where his help came from, and it's
the same for you and I. Whatever your affliction
is tonight, or whatever it may be a year from
now or ten years from now, may God recall these
words, His words. to your mind and to your heart,
that we would cry out to the Lord. Listen closely
to me. Answer me quickly when I call. Now, that's
what we want, right? We want God to answer quickly,
and perhaps sometimes he does. But at least it's
been my experience in life that God does not
work as quick as I would like him to. Now, he
could. He could work as quick as he wanted to.
We could ask for something right now, and he
could grant it in an instant. In the blink of
an eye, God could do what we ask. God could bring
healing right now, or he could provide this thing
that we need right now, or he could help our
attitudes right now, or whatever it is that we're
praying for. And maybe God does answer those
things quickly sometimes, but sometimes he does
not. But even in that, I believe God knows what
he's doing. He's using those experiences to strengthen
us. He's testing our faith. And the more we go
through those trials and day after day we continue
to have our affliction, but we continue to pray
to Him, it builds our trust in Him. It builds
our faith in Him. And when we get through that
trial, man, our faith is strong. And we say,
man, I don't know how I'm going to get through
this or that, these things that are before us.
And the way that we get through the thing that
is before us now is because God has built us
up in the thing that we went through before.
And every time in our life when we call out to
God and pray to Him and seek Him, it strengthens
our faith that much more. And then we get to
that next mountain. And we say, I don't know
how I'm going to get through it. We're going
to get through it the same way we got through
the last one. We're going to pray to the Lord.
And we're going to get through it and we're going
to look back. And after years and years of those
experiences, we're going to be able to say, I've
seen God work in my life. I'm up against this
situation, and it's scary, and it's hard, and
I don't know what the future holds, but I know
who my God is. And I know that I have called
to Him, and it has not always been easy, but
He has always been there. And He may not have
always answered my prayers in the way that I
have asked, but I know that He is a good God,
and He has given me the strength in my weakness.
And every time we call out to him in our time
of affliction, it draws us closer to him and
builds our strength in him. And that's what the
psalmist is doing here. And that's what you and
I need to do. Verse 3. For my days vanish like
smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart
is afflicted. withered like grass. I even forget
to eat my food because of the sound of my groaning.
My flesh sticks to my bones. Now, he's using
all these illustrations, burning like a furnace,
withered like grass, flesh sticking to his bones.
He just feels bad, like he's in such affliction
that it affects the way he feels. It affects
everything about him. And some of you have probably
felt that before. Maybe all of you. You've been
in such great turmoil and trouble and stress
and just pain and suffering that you feel it
to your bones. You feel it to your core. It just
weighs heavy on you. And those are not good times.
The psalmist recognized that. He uses this language.
His heart is afflicted. So afflicted, he forgets
to eat. He doesn't even want to eat. He doesn't
even eat. We've been there before. There are
days you just don't feel like eating. You're
just overwhelmed with your stress and your affliction
and your pain and your sickness and all of these
things that it is just so heavy on you. That
is a tough place to be. But praise the Lord in
the midst of all of that burden that we're under,
that Jesus Christ says to us, Come to me, you
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. Praise God that we know that word. If you
don't know that scripture, you need to learn
that scripture. Man, that's a good scripture.
And so many people in this world, they get crushed
under the burden because they do not know that
Jesus is there to lift. The burden. We need to
know that tonight. Those who are listening online
need to know that if your burden is heavy, that
Jesus can lift that burden for you. That if you
are being crushed tonight, you do not have to
be crushed. Jesus will free you from that. He'll
take that burden from you. If your heart is afflicted,
if your body is suffering, Our only hope tonight
comes through Jesus Christ. Verse 6. I am like
a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. Now
I'm not sure exactly what the... what the point
is he's trying to make with this illustration
of a desert owl. The first thing that came to
my mind is an owl is perhaps on the prowl at
night looking for something to sustain him, like
an owl among the ruins, like an owl that's just
looking for everything's destroyed around. There's
nothing to eat on. There's nothing to sustain
it, but yet he's looking. He's constantly trying
to find that thing that's going to sustain him.
Now, I don't know if that's the heart in which...
The psalmist wrote this, but it's true nonetheless.
It's true that in the midst of our struggles
and our afflictions, we look for that thing that's
going to sustain us. And sometimes, even if we
know God and we know the Word of God, sometimes
we look to be sustained by other things. Maybe
by our fame or maybe by our wealth or maybe by
some addiction that we have. Whatever it may
be, there are some times in our life that we
look at our life and we see that it's in ruins.
That everything around us is crumbled and collapsed.
And we're trying to dig through the rubble to
find something to sustain us. But there's nothing
that we can find in the rubble to sustain us.
Because it's only Jesus Christ. It's only when
we call out to the Lord. I stay awake. I am like
a solitary bird on a roof. Can't sleep. That's
what happens when we are in these seasons of
affliction and worry and hardship. It's hard
to sleep good at night. You can't go to sleep
because it's running through your mind. How am
I going to make it through this? And then when
you go to sleep, you wake up thinking about it.
You just wake up instantly and that burden is
right there. There's no rest for you. He says,
I'm like a solitary bird on a roof. I'm all alone.
And sometimes that's how we feel, probably most
of the time. In the midst of our affliction,
we feel like we are all alone. Nobody understands.
Nobody cares. Nobody can relate to me. But God
cares. God understands. And God can relate to
you. And even if everyone else has abandoned
you, and even if you feel alone, God is still
there. And maybe some of you just need to be
reminded of that right now. I don't know what
anybody's going through in their life. But maybe
you just need to know that truth tonight. God
is still there. You are not alone today. Maybe
you just need to take this psalm and you need
to go home and you just need to meditate on it
and maybe this needs to be your prayer. To just
know that God does hear you. That you are not
alone tonight. Verse 8. My enemies taunt me all
day long. They ridicule and curse me. I eat ashes
like bread. And mingle my drinks with tears.
Because of your indignation and wrath. For you
have picked me up. And thrown me aside. Now I
don't know what his enemies were. But boy that
adds insult to injury. Whatever we go through.
Whatever. However hard it may be. Whatever his
situation was. It's getting from bad to worse.
He's already in the midst of affliction. And
now his enemies are coming against him. And he
says, I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drinks
with tears. Now, we see in the Old Testament
that a lot of time when people are in mourning
and going through difficult times, they'll dress
themselves in sackcloth and they'll cover themselves
with ashes. That's probably the reference here
where he says, I ate ashes for bread. Perhaps
in a real literal sense, maybe he is so covered
in ashes that it covers his food. Or maybe he's
saying he just... in the midst of this mourning
and lamenting that he's doing, he's putting so
much ash on him that it's just in his mouth.
It's part of his diet, so to speak. What he's
saying is, I spend so much time lamenting and
calling out to the Lord that I spend time covered
in ashes and I spend time crying that my tears
are mingled with my drink. This is a man who
is broken because of his situation. Now, whether
it's of his doing or whether it's his enemies
or whether it's just some just normal life situation
that happens, he is afflicted and he is broken
and he is mourning and he is calling out before
the Lord to help him. And he says, because of
your indignation and wrath, for you have picked
me up and thrown me aside now. That's pretty
scary. Now, some would say that. that God really
hasn't picked him up and thrown him to the side,
but he just feels that way. And that's certainly
possible. Perhaps there are times that we do
feel that way. But maybe there's some literal
truth to this. Maybe his situation is some result
of something he did. I mean, we see plenty of
times throughout the Old Testament that God's
people are disobedient and God brings punishment
on them and the people have to suffer. Praise
the Lord. A lot of times they call right back
out to the Lord and they say, Oh God, we need
you. And God is gracious to them. And then what
do they do? They go back and they do some boneheaded
thing and then God brings something on them again.
And so it's possible that whatever this psalmist
is writing about, maybe there is something that
he's done. Now I say that very carefully. We
don't want to think that every time something
bad happens to us, it's God punishing us for
something we've done. Maybe there are some times
that the things that are happening to us are
a consequence, a result of something that we've
done. That certainly is the case sometimes. But
we have to be careful not to fall into the trap
that everything bad happens in our life that
we begin to stress in such a way that we say,
Oh God, what have I done? Is God punishing me?
Well, the psalmist felt that way. Whether it
was accurate or not, he felt that way. And perhaps
sometimes we feel that way too. But nevertheless,
the psalmist knew what to do. He called out to
the Lord. Verse 11. My days are like a lengthening
shadow, and I wither away like grass. Shadows
eventually go away. You could see a shadow outside
a couple hours ago, but not now. The sun has
set. It has gotten dark outside. The shadow is
gone. And he says, I wither away. His affliction
has gotten the best of him. Physically he is
worn out. Emotionally he is worn out. He doesn't
know if God hears him anymore. He doesn't know
if God's there. Is God punishing him for something?
All these things are going through his mind,
but what does he do? The very first verse, Lord,
hear my prayer. Let my cry for help come before
you. Even though all these things that he just
mentioned are on his heart and on his mind, he
knew where to go for help. Even though sleep
escaped him, he knew where to go for rest. Even
though his burden was heavy, he knew where to
go for his burden to be lifted from him. What
about you tonight? Are you afflicted tonight?
Do you feel crushed by the burden of sin, of
life, of sickness, of bad relationships? If we
feel the pressure of those things, if we feel
the burden of those things, And Jesus can free
us of that. If we would just call out to him
and seek him tonight. If we would just ask for
forgiveness of our sin. If we would just ask
for strength in our struggles. Jesus Christ will
do that for us. If we would only cry out to him.
And ask him for help. Let's pray. God we thank
you for this good word. Because God we are an
afflicted people. And maybe not tonight. But
there's probably been times in our life that
we have been, and no doubt will be times in our
life that we will be in the future. So I pray,
God, that you would help us to be a people that
would seek you, not just on the bad days, but
on the good days, and that we would recall this
scripture, dear Lord. Maybe there are some tonight
that are burdened down, that they read these
words of this psalmist, and they... can relate
far too well. And they have felt the burden of
that mentally and emotionally and physically,
dear Lord. And they feel crushed on every side
today. I pray that they would call out to Jesus.
I pray, dear Lord, that this psalm would be their
prayer, that you would hear their voice, that
you would come to them quickly, dear Lord, that
you would meet their need, that you would give
them rest, that you would give them deliverance.
God, I pray that we would not leave this place
in despair, but that we would leave with hope,
dear Lord. That those who are here and those
who are listening online will know that there
is hope, God. There is hope in the midst of our
affliction, in the midst of our troubles. And
that hope is found in nothing less than Jesus'
blood and righteousness. So God, I pray that
we would trust in that tonight. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen.