Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry come to you!
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!
The title for this Psalm in the ESV is:
A PRAYER OF ONE AFFLICTED, WHEN HE IS FAINT AND POURS OUT HIS COMPLAINT BEFORE THE LORD.
When we read it we see someone in deep suffering who is crying out to God for answers. We do not know who wrote the song, but we do know their condition. Note:
For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
In 1 Kings 19 we read that Elijah was depressed. Could this be his cry for mercy? Could it be Job. He certainly could have written those words. Could it have been Moses? Jeremiah? Disobedient Jonah in the belly of the fish? We really don’t know, but God’s people and leaders (as we can see) are not exempt from depression and mental struggles. What is God’s answer to this dilemma in this author’s life and those mentioned as going through a time of deep despair like this? Throughout the song we read of God’s greatness. We are told of His power. We are told of His creation. At the very end of the song we are told about God’s immutability (He does not change). Why would not the answer to this writer’s suffering be something about “why” he is suffering? Why would not the answer to this writer’s suffering be a promise of deliverance from the circumstances he was facing? The fact that God points to His divine creation and divine character is the answer to our suffering. In the midst of great despair, God does not often move the situation from us. Instead, God comes down and walks with us through it. He wants us to look at Him, in faith, and not focus on the circumstances or situation that is causing the pain and suffering. We are to see His glory. Note what the writer wants from his suffering:
Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
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