Psalm 102
This psalmist is clearly in distress. When you read the first eleven verses, you can hear the despair, and you can see the imagery of the deep emotion this person is feeling. He says that his heart is so sick that he doesn’t even have an appetite. There have been few occasions in my life where I am so distressed that I cannot even eat. The psalmist’s enemies taunt him day after day after day to the point that his tears fill his cup. The NLT has a subtitle for this psalm, and it reads, “A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord”. This really does sum up the first eleven verses well.
This is not the only psalm out of the one hundred and fifty where we read someone in distress crying out to God for help. David, on multiple occasions, would pour his heart out to the Lord in despair and ask God these very deep questions like why the wicked prevail over the righteous. We should all take note of this. There is a time to ask God questions and to have raw emotion with Him. He wants real you, not fake you. With that said, we should not just stay in our emotion and questions. Likewise, we should not make master’s out of our feelings.
The psalmist does not only write from the emotion he is feeling, but he writes from His knowledge of who God is as well. In verse 12 he proclaims that God will sit on His throne forever and all generations will remember His name. In verse 17 he states that God will hear the prayer of the destitute. In verse 25 he remembers the power and majesty of God by recalling His creator status. Finally in verse 27 he exalts God as the eternal God whose years will have no end.
It is important for us to have raw emotion and to acknowledge it and share it with our God, but we should not sin against Him. Bring your questions during your suffering and pain, but remember Pastor Chuck Smith’s words, “Never trade what you do know for what you don’t know.” What he means is if God does not answer your questions remember the promises that He has given you in His word. That he cares for you and is preparing a place for you and if He is preparing a place for you, He will come back for you (John 14:1-3).