NS Ministries

Wow! Talk about your pity-party whoever wrote Psalms 102 is the original pity-party animal! And guess what? I’ve got a party going of my own! How about you? You been there done that before?

However, is it really a pity-party or is the Psalmist (including you and I) looking for something?

There was a saying going around my workplace that went, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Which means if you complain loud and long enough you’ll get some attention? I used to counter that with, “The squeaky wheel may get the grease but sometimes the wheel gets replaced.”

Over the years I’ve encountered a few “chronic squeakers” who squeak only to hear themselves squeak. Show ‘em a little attention and they’ll squeak even louder.  

There’s another old saying I want to bring up at this point I am sure you’ve heard it or read it at some time or other, “God helps them that helps themselves.” While there is a great deal of truth in it however, for me it doesn’t go far enough because I believe God also helps those that cannot help themselves.

And because God knows each of us better than we’ll ever know ourselves he knows when to back off and allow to help ourselves and when to intervene when we are unable to help ourselves.

I have used a total 232 words to get to this point but there are only two who know whether our not the Psalmist was having a pity-party or he was just being realistic with his brokenness and inability to help himself.

 God and the Psalmist! The same goes for each of us!

One of the most important factors in our life of prayer is our motivators. There are times when we pray only to be heard. And there are times when we pray not just to be heard but to be touched and healed as well.

Have you ever noticed that our hands are bigger than our ears? Why do you suppose that is?

Speaking only for myself I see the Psalmist not looking for attention but looking for a God of Mercy whose heart and hands are a whole lot bigger than his ears!

Now I need to look into my own party!

Do you?

“But, Lord, you rule forever, and your fame goes on and on. You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem, because the time has now come to be kind to her; the right time has come. Your servants love even her stones; they even care about her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings on earth will honor you. The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem; there his glory will be seen. He will answer the prayers of the needy; he will not reject their prayers.”

Here are a couple of questions for which there is no answer because to answer it you would need to be God or at least know everything he knows.

1.      If a person pray’s only to be heard does God show pity toward them or does he show mercy toward them?

2.       If a person prays not just to be heard but to be touched and healed as well does God show pity toward them or does he show mercy toward them?

I pose those questions not to begin a debate or to go deeper into my own opinion about the answers but to prompt you to dig deeper into your relationship with God and God’s relationship with you. If we were to attempt to answer them perhaps our starting point would be to define “pity” and “mercy” but gaining answers is not our focus I’ll leave them to your own inquisition.

When I first read the second sentence I thought the Psalmist was telling God when to go into action. However, as I prayed about it and dug deeper I began to understand that instead of the Psalmist telling God when to get started he was simply acknowledging God’s sovereignty over time. If I were going to word it I might say something like this, “Okay God, I know you are master of time and I know you’re going to bless me so I’ll just be patient until the time for you is right.” “(p.s. - a little touch of longsuffering will go a long way.)” 

For me the most powerful phase in the entire 102^nd Psalm is the last sentence.”He will answer the prayers of the needy; he will not reject their prayers.”  Is it possible the pity-party mentioned in the last part might have simply been an acknowledgement of poverty – what do you think? (Remember you can only speak for yourself.)

“Write these things for the future so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord. The Lord looked down from his holy place above; from heaven he looked down at the earth. He heard the moans of the prisoners, and he freed those sentenced to die. The name of the Lord will be heard in Jerusalem; his praise will be heard there. People will come together, and kingdoms will serve the Lord.”

Thousands of years ago God blessed the Psalmist with you in mind! “Write these things for the future so that people (that includes you) who are not born yet (didn’t I tell you that included you) will praise the Lord.”

You were in God’s thoughts and heart thousands of years before you were even born!

Can’t quite get your arms around it can you?

Mind boggling isn’t it?

Go a head take more than just a few seconds to praise the Lord!

Hearing meaningful praise is among God’s favorite things!

“God has made me tired of living; he has cut short my life. So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life. Your years go on and on. In the beginning you made the earth, and your hands made the skies. They will be destroyed, but you will remain. They will all wear out like clothes. And, like clothes, you will change them and throw them away. But you never change, and your life will never end. Our children will live in your presence, and their children will remain with you.”

I’ll make this last part short and sweet.

“God, my relationship with you has made me tired of living the worldly life I have been living. I have all the circumstantial evidence I need to know that your way a life is the way for me. I also acknowledge that your Only Begotten Son, Jesus is the Way. I am ready to exchange my old crimsoned cloak of humanity for a divine garment whiter than snow. Than you for illuminating my life with the prophetic words of Psalms 102.

AMEN!”