What does God do beside hearing our prayers? Psalm 102-104

Psalms 102:17-20

He has regarded the prayer of the destitute

And has not despised their prayer.

This will be written for the generation to come,

That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. 

For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth, 

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

God knows us and He knows our weaknesses.   In the next chapter the writer makes that quite clear:

Psalms 103:14

For He Himself knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are but dust.

Since He knows that He has a listening ear to our prayers.   He knows we will be calling out to Him at some point and He has obligated Himself to hear His children's cries.   That is His character.  As it is stated above, "He has regarded the prayer of the destitute."   He "has not despised their prayer."  It states that God "looks down from His holy height" and "The Lord gazed upon the earth."   We can rest assured that in the midst of our failures to be holy in our lives, God is watching and waiting for our cries for help.   In our weakness His strength is perfected.  

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Although all the above is refreshing and reassuring, the real beauty of this portion of the Psalm is in the final two lines above.   He "hears" the groaning of the prisoner and "to set free" those doomed to death.   It isn't that He just hears.  The guards of the prison hear.  The other prisoners hear.   But, they are powerless to set the chains free.  It is only God who not only hears but sets us free from our death and our chains.   That is the greatness of the passage and why the writer just said, "this will be written for the generation to come."   Our freedom from the penalty of death; our freedom from the power of death; and our freedom, soon, from the presence of death is all because of our great God whom we praise to others.