Psalms 102, 106, 123, 137

Psalms 102, 106, 123, 137

 

These Psalms are very bittersweet to me.  They ache with pain and mourning describing the loneliness, helplessness, and the need for God.  But we also see in these chapters the hope and mercies of God.  Psalm 106 gives us a history of the Israeli people and I love the fact that it begins and ends with, "Praise the Lord."  It makes me think how the beginning and the end of time as we know it is with praise to God. 

            In these chapters we see the character and realities of man:

·      Time is numbered "My days vanish like smoke…and withered like grass," (Ps 102) 

·      The importance of history: remember in where we come from, the relationship with God, what was learned, ignored, and how we can teach our children, "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord," (Psalm 102)  (Isn't this our prayer for our children and their children?)

·      We are a wicked people, and we have "Glory" (God) in front of us, all around us as Job saw and asked, in the form of Creation, and " They forgot their Glory  for an image of a bull, which eats grass.  They forgot the God who saved them…" (Psalm 106)

There are of course, many other attributes we see in Israel and man, but as I mentioned before, there is hope despite our constant forgetfulness.  There are so many more images of God and descriptions of who he is as a Lord, Savior, Creator, and Father.  A few examples:

Psalm 102:

·      He listens to our cries and prayers

·      Has great Wrath

·      Compassionate

·      Lord over all the nations

·      Reigns on High

·      Created the foundations in the beginning

·      Unchanging

Psalm 106:

·      Is Good.

·      His Love endures Forever

·      He SAVES for His OWN Namesake!  (just for that reason alone!  Charles Spurgeon had an amazing sermon on this in 1857.  Why Men are Saved.)

·      Provider

·      Disciplines

·      Commands

·      Angers at disobedience

·      MERCIFUL

·      God of Israel (forever and always)

·      Remembers His children. 

Amen.