Calling Out to God #18

Psalm 102 begins like many psalms - with the psalmist crying out to God in distress. He talks about his bones burning, his heart withering, his inability to eat or sleep, his eating ashes and drinking tears. But then we find that wonderful phrase: 

12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
    you are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold her stones dear
    and have pity on her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 For the Lord builds up Zion;
    he appears in his glory;
17 he regards the prayer of the destitute
    and does not despise their prayer.

God is sovereign, eternal, merciful and powerful, and  he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. What seems like the end is not. God hears and He regards - He weighs heavily our prayers.  Like Paul in I Corinthians 10, we are to actually learn from history, from the examples of the people of Israel. Notice what the psalmist says next:
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
    so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height;
    from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to set free those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
    and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
    and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

The Psalmist recorded this song not just for the people of his day, probably survivors of the exile, but for a generation to come, for a people of the Lord gathered from peoples and nations - that's what we the church are - so that we will know he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. May we not miss out on this lesson, and pray just as he prayed.