We'll pick up where we left off. Verse 12. We're
not going to finish the psalm tonight. We're
going to do a few more verses though. Psalm 102.
We'll start in verse 12. We don't really know
exactly who wrote this psalm. It would seem as
though perhaps it was written. Maybe when God's
people were in captivity, perhaps the Babylonian
captivity. We see that in the language that we're
going to read in these verses tonight. But what
we saw in the first few verses of this psalm
is it's a person who is struggling, who is suffering,
who is experiencing some great affliction. And
they are crying out to the Lord in the midst
of their struggle. And I suspect that every one
of us... can relate to that because life is hard.
It's hard. Our jobs are hard. Family life is
hard. Sometimes church is hard. School is hard.
We lose people we love. We have sickness in our
life or in the lives of people around us. We
just hear of evils all over the world, all in
this country. And so life is full of struggle.
It's full of affliction. Now, praise the Lord,
we come here tonight and we know where to go
to. Maybe you're here tonight and you don't know
where to go to, or maybe you're listening online.
Well, where you go to is to the Lord. And that's
what we see in Psalm 102. We see this psalmist
crying out to the Lord that the Lord would hear
his prayer in his time of affliction. And that's
what we see in the first section that we looked
at last week, the first 11 verses. So we'll pray,
and then we'll look at the next few. God, we
come to you and we thank you for being good to
us and hearing us on our good days and especially
on our bad days, dear Lord. Perhaps there are
some tonight that are afflicted, that are struggling,
dear Lord, that life has just been hard for them.
I pray, God, that tonight they would cast their
burden upon Jesus Christ who wants to carry that
for them. I pray, God, that we would seek you
and pray to you as the psalmist did, and that
we would rejoice in you, dear Lord, knowing your
power and your strength, that we would look forward
with hope to the day of our deliverance. And
I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Verse
12. But you, Lord, are enthroned forever. Now,
he had finished up in verse 11. He said, my days
are like lengthening shadows and I wither away
like grass. And so he ends this first section
on this really down note. I am withering away.
My life is so horrible. But, he says, but you,
Lord, are enthroned forever. Your name endures
to all generations. You will rise up and have
compassion on Zion. For it is time to show favor
to her. The appointed time has come. For your
servants take delight in its stones and favor
its dust. Now, in the context here, he's talking
about Zion. He's talking about Jerusalem. And
God's people are talking about, the psalmist
here is talking about God's people experiencing
some deliverance, returning to Jerusalem, that
God's going to deliver them. Now, that's probably
the context in which it's being written. That's
not our context. Our deliverance is not necessarily
from an enemy that we can go back to Jerusalem
and to the walls of Jerusalem. But our deliverance
needs to come from whatever our... life situation
is. What's your struggle? What's your pain? What's
your sorrow? Whatever it is, that's what we want
deliverance from. That's why we cry out to the
Lord. That's why we seek him. And so it doesn't
matter what your situation is. The same God that
heard the psalmist here hears us. And what did
he say in verse 12? But you, Lord, are enthroned
forever. Now there's a good reminder there for
us that whatever we are going through, God is
on the throne. Brother Ernie used to say that
all the time. God is on the throne. Maybe he
got it from this verse. I'm not sure which verse
in particular. But that was something I remembered
him saying all the time. And what does that mean
to us that God is on the throne? It means that
God is in control. The one who is on the throne
is the one who is in control. And so praise the
Lord that he is in control. There's nothing that
occurs in this life that is unknown to God, that
is beyond God and beyond his power and beyond
his control. And that's difficult for us because
we see things in this world that aren't good.
We see really evil things and really tough things
that we go through. And it begs the question,
why does God allow these things? If God is on
the throne, if God is in control, then why do
bad things occur? Well, I don't know a good answer
for that. God knows. God sees the big picture.
He knows what pieces need to fall into place
to accomplish his will for his kingdom, that
as many as possible would come to know Jesus
Christ. But we don't always understand God's
will. In God's way. Because God's ways are higher
than our ways. And God's thoughts are higher
than our thoughts. But the psalmist knew who
to trust in. He knew that in the midst of his
affliction. In the midst of his pain. In the
midst of his struggle. He knew this truth. And
that is that God is in control. We need to remember
that in our struggles. That God is still on the
throne today. He was when the psalmist wrote
this psalm. Hundreds of years ago. And the same
God is still in control today. And he is the
one that gives us strength to get through the
hard times. Continuing on in verse 15. Then the
nations will fear the name of Yahweh and all
the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord
will rebuild Zion. He will appear in his glory.
He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute.
and will not despise their prayer. So everyone
knows when God shows up. Obviously, there are
enemies of the psalmist here. But when God shows
onto the scene, even the enemies have to acknowledge
the power of God. Now, there are plenty of people
in our world today that deny God, that reject
God. There are lots of people that would mock
and make fun of Christians, make fun of us tonight
for coming and singing songs and reading these
words and saying that God is enthroned. There
are a lot of people that would scoff at that
very idea. But the psalmist knows that when God
shows up onto the scene, That even those who
would scoff at him, even those who are our enemies,
even those nations, even all those people will
know that God is on the throne. And what did
he say at the end of that part of the passage
in verse 17? He will pay attention to the prayer
of the destitute and not despise their prayer.
That's good news for us because sometimes that's
our life. Sometimes that's how we feel. So we
can relate to this psalmist. And he reminds us
here that God will hear our prayer. It doesn't
always seem like it. There are things that we
have prayed for many times and still praying
for some of us that God has not answered, that
he's not removed that thorn from our flesh yet.
But what did he tell Paul? When Paul prayed three
times that God would remove the thorn from his
flesh, whatever that may have been, a physical
thorn, probably symbolic language there, whatever
his struggle was, he had prayed that God would
remove it. And God told Paul, he said, look,
my grace is sufficient for power is perfected
in weakness. He didn't remove the thorn, but
he said, I'm going to give you the grace to get
through what you're going through. And it would
be great if God would instantly end all of our
struggles. And sometimes he does. Sometimes he
answers quickly. Sometimes he solves our problems
and delivers us quickly. And other times he does
not. But even when he does not, it does not mean
that he does not hear our prayer. He does hear
our prayer. And even if he doesn't end our suffering
instantly, he does give us the grace to get through
it. Verse 18. This will be written for a later
generation, and a newly created people will praise
the Lord. He looked down from his holy heights.
The Lord gazed out from heaven to earth to hear
a prisoner's groaning, to see those condemned
to die, so that they might declare the name of
Yahweh and Zion in his praise in Jerusalem, when
peoples and kingdoms are assembled to serve.
This will be written for what it says? It says
for later generations and newly created people.
Isn't it beautiful that we can look at the words
of Scripture both in this psalm and all the stories
of Scripture and guess what? We are later generations.
We are rejoicing in the work that God did through
those who have come before us. We are rejoicing
in the miracles. We are rejoicing in the deliverance.
We are rejoicing in all of the ways in which
God has worked. And as a result, guess what?
Christianity is still thriving today. And it
will continue to thrive. So long as there are
people on this earth, there will be later generations
that will come after us. That will rejoice in
this same scripture. That will make it through
their struggles because they are trusting in
the Lord. And because they know that God hears
the prayers of those who are groaning. He says
to hear a prisoner's groaning. To set those free
condemned. To die. Now that may be in a very
literal sense there. He may literally and probably
is literally talking about prisoners condemned
to literally die. But nonetheless, we are sometimes
prisoners to our sin. Sometimes in our struggles,
in our situation, we think this is going to,
I can't do it anymore. I'm going to die in this
situation. I'm going to die in this struggle
and it's never going to get better. But the psalmist
reminds us that the Lord hears those prayers.
He hears our prayers when we groan. He pays attention
to us. And he may not always answer in the way
in which we desire, but he will answer according
to his will. And he will give us grace to get
through whatever is before us. He'll deliver
them so that, in verse 21, they might declare
the name of Yahweh in Zion. And his praise in
Jerusalem. So what does he say? The one who has
been delivered is to praise the Lord. Do we do
that? Do we praise the Lord? Maybe you've been
delivered from something in the past. Have you
praised the Lord? You should praise the Lord.
Maybe even now in the midst of our struggle and
our suffering, we're so focused on all that negative
and all that. and hardship in our life that we
just fail to realize that God is still good,
that he still has blessed us in so many ways,
that he still cares for us, that maybe life's
not as bad as it looks. And maybe even in the
midst of the struggle, there needs to be a praise.
In the midst of our struggle, there needs to
be a hallelujah. And certainly when God delivers
us, we are quick to go to God when trouble strikes.
And that's great. God desires for us to do that.
He wants us to come when our hardships are upon
us. But are we just as quick to go to God and
praise Him when God delivers us, or do we forget?
Do we just pray with expectancy that God's just
supposed to do what we ask, and then He does
it, and, okay, I'm through this spell. I'll go
on about my life, and I'll call on you again,
God, when I need you. Do we ever just stop and
say, God? You have been so good to me and you
have delivered me in so many ways. God, I just
want to thank you and I want to praise you for
what you've done in my life or my loved one's
life or my church people or whatever goes on
here. There are so many things that God has blessed
us with and we need to praise him for it. So
if we're one of those who is in affliction and
suffering tonight, we need to know that God is
still on the throne. He hears our prayers, and
we need to praise him for listening and for caring
and for being there with us. Let's pray. God,
we thank you for your good word. I pray that
you would help us to be a people who would seek
you and who would trust you tonight. I pray that
you would help us not to be overwhelmed by our
afflictions and our burdens, but I pray that
we would lay them at the foot of the cross, that
we would repent of our sins, we would just lay
our burdens before you, we would lay our worries
before you and our stresses before you, that
you would just give us some deliverance, that
you'd give us some peace, that you'd give us
some grace, dear Lord. There are times in our
life, dear Lord, and maybe some now that are
just in the midst of some really intense circumstance,
and God, we don't want to stay there, we don't
want to be in those things, but sometimes we
are for a while. And so I pray, God, for any
who are in the middle of anything right now,
that you just give them grace. God, if it's not
your will to deliver them, that you give them
grace and you give them strength to get through
it. I pray, dear Lord, tonight that we would
reflect on the many ways that you have been good
to us, that we would rejoice in you and praise
you tonight, that we would praise you for the
deliverance, that we would praise you for the
strength, and God, that we would long for the
day. that you get us through our current afflictions.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.