Hear My Prayer: Psalm 102
THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
The Rev. Michael K. Templin, Assisting Priest
“HEAR my prayer, O LORD, * and let my crying come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble; * incline thine ear unto me when I call; O hear me, and that right soon.”
A dear friend just lost his brother-in-law to cancer. He leaves behind a wife and child in the prime of their lives. I’m sure all of you have similar stories, similar heartbreaks, and similar pains. Sometimes, many of us are going through life so burdened, and all around us is the hedonism of post-modernity, the lawlessness of our rulers, and sin plastered on every TV set. And we’re stuck trying to grieve and cope in a society that worships “feeling good.”
Our Psalmist today opens with those often repeated words: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.” Commentators have pointed out there are three interpretations for the context of Psalm 102:
“That David penned this psalm at the time of Absalom's rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some other prophet penned it for the use of the church, when it was in captivity in Babylon because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion and of a time set for the rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood by books, Dan. 9:2” (Henry)
“Or perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he complains of at the beginning of the psalm, but (as in Ps. 77 and elsewhere) he comforts himself under it with the consideration of God's eternity, and the church's prosperity and perpetuity, how much soever it was now distressed and threatened.” (Henry)
But Matthew Henry points out that vv. 25-26 are employed by the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, that Psalm 102 is truly about the Messiah Jesus and the afflictions of the Christ’s Church. This being the case, Psalm 102 reminds us that the saints of God have endured conflict, trial, and trouble. That states, especially the Israel of the Old Covenant, and nations that have put Christ forward as their ruler have also gone through conflict, trials, and pain, and finally, those who trust in Jesus (the Church) will also face the day of pain and suffering.
Why, though? Well, if we actually believe the Holy Scriptures, then we also believe what it says about the state of mankind - that we are dealing with sin. Sin infects us all, our relationships, our churches, and our nations. Sin crucified Jesus. Sin causes us to interact poorly with our neighbors, sin causes us to gossip about our friends, it causes us to neglect our duties to God and our neighbor, and it causes us to be completely self-centered. It causes war and murder.
As the church believers in the LORD, we are trying every day by the grace and mercy of Jesus to flee from sin, to stand up for right things, and to lovingly correct the zeitgeist world we live in. And those who don’t want to change will have hostility to the Gospel. Thus, we’re living in a time of suffering, a time where our cries for God’s help must continually go forward, a time when we ask God not to hide his face from us but to incline his ear in mercy and to help us.
The Collect for today reminds us: “ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve…” How many times are we fuming, suffering, and despairing, and yet we’re not praying to the one who is ready to hear and ready to give. Don’t bury your burden and become bitter. Pray, forgive, and act. We can't forget that we’re also the body of Christ here on earth and that Christ truly cares.
I'd like us to look at the Gospel Lesson for today from Mark 7:
JESUS, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Now, there are many beautiful things in this Gospel lesson about deliverance and healing - but I want us to focus for a moment on the most stirring thing in the entire account v. 34: “And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed.” Beloved, he wasn't annoyed, he wasn't distracted, it wasn't a difficult task, the reason Jesus sighed is because he pitied the man - he was sympathetic to his suffering. Isaiah 53:4: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” You see, this is why we call out to the LORD as Psalm 102 directs - he’s not a God who doesn't care. He’s not a God who’s not listening. He’s a God who bears our burdens to the utmost degree. We know this with confidence because of the Cross. That Cross took away that sin issue that I mentioned earlier. The time of our redemption is near; the time of our suffering is short. Have faith and cry out to God.
My days are gone like a shadow, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance throughout all generations. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion; for it is time that thou have mercy upon her, yea, the time is come.
