Psalm Meditation 990
Pentecost
June 9, 2019

Psalm 102
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.
3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
6 I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
7 I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
9 For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 For the Lord will build up Zion; he will appear in his glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer.
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die;
21 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.
24 “O my God,” I say, “do not take me away at the midpoint of my life, you whose years endure throughout all generations.”
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.
(NRSV)

When I am distressed I question everything. Do I have a place in the world, does God love me, is there a God? Those are just a few of the questions that have a connection with the psalm. The distress clouds all my thoughts and leads me down paths that color everything the darkest shade possible.

I push myself to remember good things that God has done in my presence, past and present. Sometimes it is a bad thing as I think that God has done those thing in the past, and is doing those things for people around me. That must mean that God is done with me, since I am going through this distressing situation by myself. Other times it is a good thing as I am able to anticipate those same kinds of good things in the future. The God who has claimed me as a child, loves me and will care for me as I have been cared for in the past.

Distress can be brutal as it darkens our perception of all around us. Our hope is to look to God, to see that in our darkest moments we are not alone. We have the support of God who is with us no matter what. We may have something to learn, we may have a price to pay for an action of our own or someone else, we may be the victim of something random over which we have no control. God endures and holds us in loving and powerful hands.

June 6, 2019
LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/