Psalm 102--Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

Psalm 102
English Standard Version

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me
A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
102 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 struck down like grass and has withered;
    I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of my loud groaning
    my bones cling to my flesh.
6 I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
    like an owl of the waste places;
7 I lie awake;
    I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
8 All the day 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 taken me up and thrown me down.
11 My days are like an evening shadow;
    I wither away like grass.

12 But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;
    you are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold her stones dear
    and have pity on her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the LORD,
    and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 For the LORD builds up Zion;
    he appears in his glory;
17 he regards the prayer of the destitute
    and does not despise their prayer.

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
    so that a people yet to be created 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 that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
    and in Jerusalem his praise,
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, “take me not away
    in the midst of my days--
you whose years endure
    throughout all generations!”

​25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27     but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
    their offspring shall be established before you.

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The superscript tells us that this psalm is written by someone who is being afflicted by the LORD.  The petitioner wants (or needs) a quick reply from the LORD, for he fears that death is approaching for him.  He speaks of his live being like smoke that will quickly be dispersed, like fuel for a furnace, or like the grass that withers under the hot sun.  He also compared himself to the desert owl, which is a nocturnal animal, so the author is pointing out the fact that he is awake and unable to sleep all through the night.  He also seems to say that he's lonely and it sounds like most if not all of his friends have abandoned him.

The author says that he faces taunts from his enemies all day long.  On top of his physical suffering and the stress of not being able to sleep, and the loneliness, he now has to deal with hearing the curses and jeers of his enemies all day long.  He wants the LORD to either strengthen him so that their mouths will be shut, or for the LORD to deal with them and shut their mouths.  The author says that he knows that this is from the hand of the LORD (my guess is the LORD, and the author once again says his days are short if the LORD does not withhold His wrath and judgment.

The author chooses to praise the LORD and then calls on the LORD to have favor on His covenant people.  If this is David, and I think it is, he is petitioning the LORD to heal him as the people need their leader and shepherd back, though he knows that Jerusalem will be okay (and even better) and one day the nations will fear the LORD because they will see what He has done for Jerusalem and the Jewish people.  Then the author says that he knows the LORD does not despise the prayer of the destitute--that is, he knows the LORD hears His prayers.

Through all this, the author chose to worship the LORD and to do so as an example to all future generations that we are to give thanks and glorify the LORD in all circumstances.  This next part looks forward to something even better than what the psalmist imagines, but the LORD did hear the cry of those who were prisoners of sin and under the death penalty of the curse of the Law.  He looked on our affliction and had pity.  He sent His own Son to die in our place that we might be set free, might be healed of our disease/affliction of sin, and that we might have eternal, abundant life.  We may have started off talking about a physical ailment that afflicted the author, but I think we got to the point of the spiritual ailment that afflicts the whole world (though the author only focuses on the nation of Israel--probably because it is King David writing this).  Then the people of the LORD (called the people of Zion) will gather together to praise the LORD--this happens for sure at the end of days, but we would love for it to happen before then as well and pray for the salvation of Israel and the peace of Jerusalem that will only come through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Jewish people recognizing Him as their Lord, Savior, and Messiah.

The author then returns to himself and says that the LORD has afflicted him and cut his days short, and he asks not to die while he still has potentially many years of life left (you get the sense that this writer is in "mid-life" and is not elderly, because he's not talking like he's lived a full life).  With all that said, the author refuses to trust in his strength or health because we can't hold onto any of it.  Heaven and earth will pass away eventually--only the LORD and the dwelling place that He has made for His servants to dwell with Him will last forever.  This is what the writer hopes in that not even death can separate Him from the LORD.  We have an even greater hope on the other side of the cross and resurrection because, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."  We no longer have to wait in Paradise for the blessings of heaven because we are immediately in heaven with the Lord.