Psalm Devotional
Do You Have the Time?
Written by Ian Wise. This devotional was first published in the December 2011 issue of The Reformed Presbyterian Witness.
Humanity has always been captivated by stories in which a bleak future takes hold, from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. While some of these stories are merely curiosities, many others are indicators of the author’s deep-seated pessimism and offer no hope for a better future in our reality. The Scriptures have bleak things to say, too. The Bible is the most realistic book in the world. But the difference is that God’s Word offers real and solid hope.
Psalm 102 is a prime example. We rightly categorize it as a song of lament, yet it is shot through with hope. Verses 11-12 summarize the song’s theme and demonstrate the intersection of complaint and joyful anticipation: “My days are like a shadow that lengthens, and I wither away like grass. But You, O Lord, shall endure forever; and the remembrance of Your name to all generations.”
Our Impermanence Pictured (vv. 1-12)
The psalmist appears to be sick. He is in urgent need. He calls on the Lord to answer him speedily (v. 1). His life hangs in the balance. The section is framed with references to the tenuousness of his days (vv. 3, 12). Every line adds to the picture of his frailty.
Frailty is seen in his body–his “bones are burned,” his “heart is stricken and withered” (vv. 3-4). Frailty is seen in his response–so weighed down is he that he forgets to eat (v. 4). How often does suffering of body and grief of heart lead us to self-destructive behavior? Frailty is seen in his manward relations–he is alone (v. 7). Do you push people away when you’re depressed? Frailty is seen in his vulnerability–for his enemies, it’s open season (v. 8). Frailty is seen in his Godward relation–he seems to blame God for severity and senseless punishment (v. 10).
Without God, without Christ, we have to stop here. “Here today, gone tomorrow,” is an apt description of human life. Life is impermanent–frail, fragile, finite.
God’s Permanence Praised (vv. 13-27)
“But You…” is the turning point, not just in the structure of the psalm, but in our outlook on life. The focus has been “I” and “my.” Now it’s “You.” How crucial this is in coping in a healthy way with our troubles. A time of complaint may be good and necessary–the title of our psalm encourages it–but we must turn the corner. What do we learn in these verses?
God is permanent in His purposes. Here individual lament meets corporate comfort. Our psalmist finds the greatest encouragement in God’s promises to His church! It’s where the Lord’s “glory” dwells, and where His “favor” is shown. This isn’t how we usually think, but there’s something here for us to learn. The church is where the Christian finds much of his identity. The fact that God will renew His people (v. 13), that He is drawing in the nations (vv. 15, 22), that He is creating a people for Himself (v. 18), and delivering the prisoner (v. 20) is of the utmost comfort to the believer.
God is permanent in His person. The Lord was before the world came into being, and He created it all (v. 25). And the Lord will be when the world perishes (v. 26). Creation “will be changed,” but God remains “the same.” What an encouragement that is to us as we see the world in seeming chaos, and our own personal world often in flux! But there’s even more here for us: These words describe Christ Himself (see Heb. 1:10-12). Our Savior is Lord of the universe and Lord of history. “In Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
What can a Savior like that not do for us? Samuel Rutherford, in one of his famous letters, gave this counsel: “Your Rock is Christ, and it is not your Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea.”
Our Permanence Promised (v. 28)
What is the hope of the “children” of God’s “servants”–those who trust in His Son? Permanence. They will “continue” (“abide”) and “be established.” And what a promise that is for “children of dust,” whose “breath is in his nostrils.” In Christ, man has his lost significance restored.
This verse speaks of far more than some indefinite perpetuation of the frail life we’ve known so far. In Christ is resurrection life! The earth and the heavens won’t simply cease to exist, “they will be changed” (v. 26). And so will we.
Yes, it’s easy to see why there is lamenting and sorrow even in God’s word. Sin leaves its mark. “My days are like a shadow…and I wither away like grass.” But for the Christian there is the best kind of hope, the hope of the resurrection morning, brought right down into our present experience by the mighty working of the risen Jesus in our lives. “But You, O Lord, shall endure forever.”
