Year 2 Day 154

Year 2 Day 154

Pray (AC-ts)

Read — Psalm 102:1-11

Message Alan Burke 

“First posted Year 1 Day 134 - 3 Aug 20”
Cries of anguish can come both from physical as well as emotional pain, I have seen both. There are two such cries that will stay with me as long as I live, first the cry of physical anguish coming from a man who was in severe physical pain as he reached the end of his life. The other was that cry of emotional pain as a wife buried her her husband of many years. Both these cries portrayed to all who heard, some of that which was felt by them. What has struck me at the time was that the man was able to smile with his wife and children who were with him in his last hours even in the midst of his pain, whereas that wife who had buried her husband for a long time after did not smile, for she only felt grief and anguish, the pain of her loss still gripped her.

Here the psalmist cries out to the Lord, a cry of desperation (1), we do not know what he as facing but the title of this psalm paints a vivid picture of how this is a; “Prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before the LORD”. He feels that the Lord has turned his face from him, desiring that the Lord would in his mercy respond, that he would release him from the abandonment that he faces (2). In the midst of it all the psalmist describes what he feels amid his distress, he leaves out the specifics and instead focusing on the deep sense of affliction that he feels . His bones burn (3), his heart is struck down, he forgets to eat (4), he groans loudly because of the anguish he faces (5), his bones clinging to his flesh loosing his appetite (7), sleeplessness and uncontrolled weeping (9), for he faces the taunt of his enemy. This vivid imagery portrays a terrible sense of being alone, this is how the psalmist feels, consumed by sorrow and tempted to despair, the whole of his person has been effected by these things. There is no escape and as the psalmist comes to terms with the suffering he faces he begins to understand his own mortality. Just like the psalmist when we face such things we own mortality like never before. Here the psalmist explains that our days or like smoke (3), they are like an evening shadow (11) which like the grass are soon gone (11). 

I hope that you never feel anguish like this, I hope that you never have to cry out either with physical or emotional anguish but if you do, know that the Lord God will not forget those who are his, and you can come to him with your troubles with confidence, knowing that God can use our weakness in the midst of what ever we face (1 Cor 1:27). Also before the living God, even in our weakness, even when we know not what to pray the Spirit of God is at work in us answering our prayers (Rom 8:26-27). In this life, God is our only refuge the psalmist knew that hence he came before him, bringing his cries of anguish. Knowing that God is our refuge should give us confidence even though Covid-19 has reminded of the fragility of it all, how our days or like smoke (3), they are like an evening shadow (11) which like the grass are soon gone (11). One day this earthly journey will come to an end, for we are but sojourners traveling though. Through faith, as the psalmist, even in darkness we can have hope through Jesus Christ, it is the only for all who believe (1 Jn 5:13-14, 1 Pet 1:3-6, Eph 2:8-10).

Pray (ac-TS)

Sing 

WSC 
Q41 Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments. (Deut. 10:4, Matt. 19:17)
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