From Affliction to Praise

We'll pick up where we left off. Verse 12. We're

not going to finish the psalm tonight. We're

going to do a few more verses though. Psalm 102.

We'll start in verse 12. We don't really know

exactly who wrote this psalm. It would seem as

though perhaps it was written. Maybe when God's

people were in captivity, perhaps the Babylonian

captivity. We see that in the language that we're

going to read in these verses tonight. But what

we saw in the first few verses of this psalm

is it's a person who is struggling, who is suffering,

who is experiencing some great affliction. And

they are crying out to the Lord in the midst

of their struggle. And I suspect that every one

of us... can relate to that because life is hard.

It's hard. Our jobs are hard. Family life is

hard. Sometimes church is hard. School is hard.

We lose people we love. We have sickness in our

life or in the lives of people around us. We

just hear of evils all over the world, all in

this country. And so life is full of struggle.

It's full of affliction. Now, praise the Lord,

we come here tonight and we know where to go

to. Maybe you're here tonight and you don't know

where to go to, or maybe you're listening online.

Well, where you go to is to the Lord. And that's

what we see in Psalm 102. We see this psalmist

crying out to the Lord that the Lord would hear

his prayer in his time of affliction. And that's

what we see in the first section that we looked

at last week, the first 11 verses. So we'll pray,

and then we'll look at the next few. God, we

come to you and we thank you for being good to

us and hearing us on our good days and especially

on our bad days, dear Lord. Perhaps there are

some tonight that are afflicted, that are struggling,

dear Lord, that life has just been hard for them.

I pray, God, that tonight they would cast their

burden upon Jesus Christ who wants to carry that

for them. I pray, God, that we would seek you

and pray to you as the psalmist did, and that

we would rejoice in you, dear Lord, knowing your

power and your strength, that we would look forward

with hope to the day of our deliverance. And

I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Verse

12. But you, Lord, are enthroned forever. Now,

he had finished up in verse 11. He said, my days

are like lengthening shadows and I wither away

like grass. And so he ends this first section

on this really down note. I am withering away.

My life is so horrible. But, he says, but you,

Lord, are enthroned forever. Your name endures

to all generations. You will rise up and have

compassion on Zion. For it is time to show favor

to her. The appointed time has come. For your

servants take delight in its stones and favor

its dust. Now, in the context here, he's talking

about Zion. He's talking about Jerusalem. And

God's people are talking about, the psalmist

here is talking about God's people experiencing

some deliverance, returning to Jerusalem, that

God's going to deliver them. Now, that's probably

the context in which it's being written. That's

not our context. Our deliverance is not necessarily

from an enemy that we can go back to Jerusalem

and to the walls of Jerusalem. But our deliverance

needs to come from whatever our... life situation

is. What's your struggle? What's your pain? What's

your sorrow? Whatever it is, that's what we want

deliverance from. That's why we cry out to the

Lord. That's why we seek him. And so it doesn't

matter what your situation is. The same God that

heard the psalmist here hears us. And what did

he say in verse 12? But you, Lord, are enthroned

forever. Now there's a good reminder there for

us that whatever we are going through, God is

on the throne. Brother Ernie used to say that

all the time. God is on the throne. Maybe he

got it from this verse. I'm not sure which verse

in particular. But that was something I remembered

him saying all the time. And what does that mean

to us that God is on the throne? It means that

God is in control. The one who is on the throne

is the one who is in control. And so praise the

Lord that he is in control. There's nothing that

occurs in this life that is unknown to God, that

is beyond God and beyond his power and beyond

his control. And that's difficult for us because

we see things in this world that aren't good.

We see really evil things and really tough things

that we go through. And it begs the question,

why does God allow these things? If God is on

the throne, if God is in control, then why do

bad things occur? Well, I don't know a good answer

for that. God knows. God sees the big picture.

He knows what pieces need to fall into place

to accomplish his will for his kingdom, that

as many as possible would come to know Jesus

Christ. But we don't always understand God's

will. In God's way. Because God's ways are higher

than our ways. And God's thoughts are higher

than our thoughts. But the psalmist knew who

to trust in. He knew that in the midst of his

affliction. In the midst of his pain. In the

midst of his struggle. He knew this truth. And

that is that God is in control. We need to remember

that in our struggles. That God is still on the

throne today. He was when the psalmist wrote

this psalm. Hundreds of years ago. And the same

God is still in control today. And he is the

one that gives us strength to get through the

hard times. Continuing on in verse 15. Then the

nations will fear the name of Yahweh and all

the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord

will rebuild Zion. He will appear in his glory.

He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute.

and will not despise their prayer. So everyone

knows when God shows up. Obviously, there are

enemies of the psalmist here. But when God shows

onto the scene, even the enemies have to acknowledge

the power of God. Now, there are plenty of people

in our world today that deny God, that reject

God. There are lots of people that would mock

and make fun of Christians, make fun of us tonight

for coming and singing songs and reading these

words and saying that God is enthroned. There

are a lot of people that would scoff at that

very idea. But the psalmist knows that when God

shows up onto the scene, That even those who

would scoff at him, even those who are our enemies,

even those nations, even all those people will

know that God is on the throne. And what did

he say at the end of that part of the passage

in verse 17? He will pay attention to the prayer

of the destitute and not despise their prayer.

That's good news for us because sometimes that's

our life. Sometimes that's how we feel. So we

can relate to this psalmist. And he reminds us

here that God will hear our prayer. It doesn't

always seem like it. There are things that we

have prayed for many times and still praying

for some of us that God has not answered, that

he's not removed that thorn from our flesh yet.

But what did he tell Paul? When Paul prayed three

times that God would remove the thorn from his

flesh, whatever that may have been, a physical

thorn, probably symbolic language there, whatever

his struggle was, he had prayed that God would

remove it. And God told Paul, he said, look,

my grace is sufficient for power is perfected

in weakness. He didn't remove the thorn, but

he said, I'm going to give you the grace to get

through what you're going through. And it would

be great if God would instantly end all of our

struggles. And sometimes he does. Sometimes he

answers quickly. Sometimes he solves our problems

and delivers us quickly. And other times he does

not. But even when he does not, it does not mean

that he does not hear our prayer. He does hear

our prayer. And even if he doesn't end our suffering

instantly, he does give us the grace to get through

it. Verse 18. This will be written for a later

generation, and a newly created people will praise

the Lord. He looked down from his holy heights.

The Lord gazed out from heaven to earth to hear

a prisoner's groaning, to see those condemned

to die, so that they might declare the name of

Yahweh and Zion in his praise in Jerusalem, when

peoples and kingdoms are assembled to serve.

This will be written for what it says? It says

for later generations and newly created people.

Isn't it beautiful that we can look at the words

of Scripture both in this psalm and all the stories

of Scripture and guess what? We are later generations.

We are rejoicing in the work that God did through

those who have come before us. We are rejoicing

in the miracles. We are rejoicing in the deliverance.

We are rejoicing in all of the ways in which

God has worked. And as a result, guess what?

Christianity is still thriving today. And it

will continue to thrive. So long as there are

people on this earth, there will be later generations

that will come after us. That will rejoice in

this same scripture. That will make it through

their struggles because they are trusting in

the Lord. And because they know that God hears

the prayers of those who are groaning. He says

to hear a prisoner's groaning. To set those free

condemned. To die. Now that may be in a very

literal sense there. He may literally and probably

is literally talking about prisoners condemned

to literally die. But nonetheless, we are sometimes

prisoners to our sin. Sometimes in our struggles,

in our situation, we think this is going to,

I can't do it anymore. I'm going to die in this

situation. I'm going to die in this struggle

and it's never going to get better. But the psalmist

reminds us that the Lord hears those prayers.

He hears our prayers when we groan. He pays attention

to us. And he may not always answer in the way

in which we desire, but he will answer according

to his will. And he will give us grace to get

through whatever is before us. He'll deliver

them so that, in verse 21, they might declare

the name of Yahweh in Zion. And his praise in

Jerusalem. So what does he say? The one who has

been delivered is to praise the Lord. Do we do

that? Do we praise the Lord? Maybe you've been

delivered from something in the past. Have you

praised the Lord? You should praise the Lord.

Maybe even now in the midst of our struggle and

our suffering, we're so focused on all that negative

and all that. and hardship in our life that we

just fail to realize that God is still good,

that he still has blessed us in so many ways,

that he still cares for us, that maybe life's

not as bad as it looks. And maybe even in the

midst of the struggle, there needs to be a praise.

In the midst of our struggle, there needs to

be a hallelujah. And certainly when God delivers

us, we are quick to go to God when trouble strikes.

And that's great. God desires for us to do that.

He wants us to come when our hardships are upon

us. But are we just as quick to go to God and

praise Him when God delivers us, or do we forget?

Do we just pray with expectancy that God's just

supposed to do what we ask, and then He does

it, and, okay, I'm through this spell. I'll go

on about my life, and I'll call on you again,

God, when I need you. Do we ever just stop and

say, God? You have been so good to me and you

have delivered me in so many ways. God, I just

want to thank you and I want to praise you for

what you've done in my life or my loved one's

life or my church people or whatever goes on

here. There are so many things that God has blessed

us with and we need to praise him for it. So

if we're one of those who is in affliction and

suffering tonight, we need to know that God is

still on the throne. He hears our prayers, and

we need to praise him for listening and for caring

and for being there with us. Let's pray. God,

we thank you for your good word. I pray that

you would help us to be a people who would seek

you and who would trust you tonight. I pray that

you would help us not to be overwhelmed by our

afflictions and our burdens, but I pray that

we would lay them at the foot of the cross, that

we would repent of our sins, we would just lay

our burdens before you, we would lay our worries

before you and our stresses before you, that

you would just give us some deliverance, that

you'd give us some peace, that you'd give us

some grace, dear Lord. There are times in our

life, dear Lord, and maybe some now that are

just in the midst of some really intense circumstance,

and God, we don't want to stay there, we don't

want to be in those things, but sometimes we

are for a while. And so I pray, God, for any

who are in the middle of anything right now,

that you just give them grace. God, if it's not

your will to deliver them, that you give them

grace and you give them strength to get through

it. I pray, dear Lord, tonight that we would

reflect on the many ways that you have been good

to us, that we would rejoice in you and praise

you tonight, that we would praise you for the

deliverance, that we would praise you for the

strength, and God, that we would long for the

day. that you get us through our current afflictions.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.