Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee.
Thoughts of comfort and complaint
I. Thoughts of complaint (Psalms 102:1-11).
1. Concerning bodily sufferings.
(1) The physical anguish of life (verse 3).
(2) The terrible brevity of life (verse 11).
2. Concerning mental sufferings. “I am in trouble.” “My heart is smitten,” etc. His mental anguish destroyed his appetite for food, made his bones “cleave” to his “skin,” and to mingle his drink with tears. Such is the connection between the mind and the body that a suffering mind will soon bring the body to decay and death. One dark thought has often struck down a stalwart frame.
3. Concerning social sufferings (verse 8). The coldness, the calumny, the envy and jealousy of our fellow-men cannot fail to strike anguish into the heart.
4. Concerning religious sufferings (verse 10). Moral suffering is the soul of all suffering. “A wounded spirit who can bear?”
II. Thoughts of comfort (Psalms 102:12-28). These thoughts refer to God.
1. His existence amidst all the changes of earth (verse 12).
2. His anticipated interposition on behalf of mankind (Psalms 102:13-18).
(1) It is fixed--a “set time.”
(2) It is conditional (verse 14). “Seek, and ye shall find,” etc.
(3) It is glorious (verse 15).
(4) It is prayer-answering (verse 19).
(5) It is always rememberable (verse 18).
3. His past kindness towards the suffering (Psalms 102:19-22).
4. His unchangeableness amidst all the mutations of the universe.
(1) Men change, but He remains the same (verses23, 24).
(2) The universe changes, but He remains the same (Psalms 102:25-27).
The universe had an origin and is destined to have a dissolution. It had an origin. “Of old hast Thou laid,” etc. This account of the origin of the universe contradicts atheistic eternalists and sceptical evolutionists. It will have a dissolution. “It shall perish.” Dissolution, in fact, is a law of the organized universe. Both the origin and dissolution of the universe are attributable to One Personality. “Of old hast Thou laid.” The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies this to Christ, therefore to him Christ was Eternal God. One Being created all, one Being will dissolve all. This One Personality remains unalterable from the origin to the dissolution of the universe. (Homilist.)
The conditions of acceptable prayer
1. There must be a holy respect for the character and ways of God. We must come looking at all His attributes. They must fill all the eye, and ravish all the heart.
2. As we are social beings, the mode of our approach must show that we are not praying alone, that we belong to a praying family; and we should wish to get near to His presence, and not pray at a distance. The child would choose to come where the father was, if he could speak to him, and not stand at a distance, as if he were praying by proxy to an absent father.
3. Our prayers must go up with sincerity before him, and with that open frankness that love is accustomed to generate. And we should really desire the blessing we need, and not some other that we are afraid to ask for, as if we were held in the attitude of foreigners, who were supplicating mercies which we not only did not deserve, but had no reason to expect.
4. We must have our eyes filled with the precious Mediator: He must be to us “the chief among ten thousands, and altogether lovely.”
5. We must approach Him with a spirit of submission. This, however, will not imply indifference. There can be no resignation, unless the heart desires earnestly the blessing it supplicates.
6. We must come with a spirit of humility and penitence. The suppliant who can for one single moment forget that he is a suppliant will deserve to be repulsed in the very prayer he makes.
7. It would be natural and indispensable that we remember that we have received blessings from the same hand before, and there is no part of our plea that is more efficacious than where we tell of the mercies received in days gone by. (D. A. Clark.)
Earnest prayer alone succeeds
“Not very long ago I was staying at Matlock, and some one in Manchester wanted to call me up on the telephone. Speaking through the telephone is a thing to which I am unaccustomed. I could hear the voice at the other end asking me if I were there. I shouted that I was, I bellowed that I was, but still I heard the question, ‘Are you there?’ In despair I put the instrument-down and went to the porter. With a pitying smile be took the instrument, and spoke through it as quietly as possible. He was heard. I said, ‘Why can’t I make him hear?’ ‘Because,’ he said, ‘you forget one very simple thing. You do not take hold of the receiver firmly.’” Oh, how often in our appeals to high Heaven we ask and receive not because we forget to take a firm hold. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
God will hear my prayer
There is Christ, as most of us, I suppose, believe, Lord of all creatures, administering the affairs of the universe; the steps of His throne and the precincts of His court are thronged with dependents whose eyes wait upon Him, who are fed from His stores; and yet my poor voice may steal through that chorus-shout of petition and praise, and His ear will detect its lowest note, and will separate the thin stream of my prayer from the great sea of supplication which rolls to His seat, and will answer me. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)