the Time to Have Mercy upon Zion
We must remember that the Holy Spirit appropriates the closing words of this psalm as addressed to our Lord. See Hebrews 1:10-12. This gives new point to these petitions. The psalmist's sorrows, described in the previous paragraph, had their source in the desolations of Zion rather than in personal afflictions; and when the soul feels such oppression, it is a sign that deliverance is near. Finney, the great evangelist, tells of a woman who came to her pastor under such concern for the perishing that she could neither eat nor sleep. She entreated him to appoint an inquirers' meeting, and though there had been no signs of a revival, it suddenly broke out. When Christians take pity on the stones and dust of the Church, the time has come for God to arise to her help.
Behold the unchanging Christ! Creation may wax old, the heavens and earth may be laid aside as an outworn garment, the old order may give place to new; but beneath all the changed Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. How delightful are those immortal words, But thou, O Lord, shalt endure, and if He endures, His servants shall continue also, and their children after them.