Psalms 102-104

Thoughts

Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me. A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!

• “Hide your face” and Answer me speedily”:  psalmist feels abandoned and begs God to turn toward him.

For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.

• Suffering feels consuming and physical such as bones burning, heart withering, appetite gone.
• “My days pass away like smoke” – vapor language

I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

• The bird imagery is about isolation and sleeplessness.
• The psalmist feels abandoned not just by people but by God.

All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

• The suffering includes mockery as his enemies use his name as an insult.
• “Eat ashes like bread” = mourning, humiliation
• Attributes suffering to God’s wrath 

But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.

• Turning point: he lifts his eyes from himself to God
• Even the stones and dust of the ruined city are precious to God’s people.

Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
For the Lord builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;
he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.

• God hears the desperate

Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

• The psalm wants suffering people yet unborn to know that God hears and frees.
• God “looked down” not to judge but to deliver.
• The goal is global worship

He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
“O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”

• He contrasts his short life with God’s eternal years.

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
but you are the same, and your years have no end.
The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.

• God’s unchanging nature.
• Creation  is temporary compared to God.

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O My Soul. Of David

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.

• “Redeems your life from the pit”  God pulls His people out of situations they cannot escape themselves.
• “Satisfies you with good” God doesn’t just rescue but He restores.
• “Your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” restored energy

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.

• God intervenes for the oppressed.
• “Made known his ways” recalls  Exodus 34:6–7.
• God corrects His people, but He does “not keep his anger forever”

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

• Two limitless images (“heavens above the earth” and “east from west”) show God’s forgiveness
• Sin is not just forgiven  it is removed

As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

• Human life is brief but God’s love is eternal
• God’s faithfulness is generational and extends to “children’s children.”

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

• God’s rule covers everything.
• Angels and heavenly beings are called into praise
• “All his works” includes every part of creation, from heaven to earth.

Psalm 104

O Lord My God, You Are Very Great

• No title in Hebrew

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.

• God’s “clothing” is light itself – pure
• Stretching out the heavens “like a tent” shows God as powerful
• Clouds as His chariot and wind as His wings: God of creation
• Winds and flames as His messengers: God rules over heavenly beings

He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.

• God establishes the earth with stability and purpose.
• Echoes Genesis 1 and Genesis 7 (flood)
• The boundary on the sea: chaos does not rule.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

• God provides water for wild animals 
• Birds make their homes where God gives life
• Rain from God’s “lofty abode”- He provides fro us 
• The whole earth is “satisfied” by His work 

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

• God sustains both animals and human 
• Lebanon’s cedars (“the trees of the Lord”) symbolize greatness
• Birds and even unlikely animals (rock badgers, wild goats) have homes designed for them

He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.

• God orders time through sun and moon
• Nighttime creatures depend on God for their food.
• Creation is not chaotic

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

• God’s works are “manifold” and complex, unique 
• The sea is both vast and full of life beyond human counting.
• Leviathan is not a threat in this passage

These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.

• All creatures depend on God 
• God’s “open hand” brings abundance and His hidden face brings fear 
• Life and death are held in God’s hand

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!

• God rejoices in His creation
• The earth trembling and mountains smoking show His power and holiness
• The psalmist responds with lifelong worship 

Questions

Application

Psalm 102 gives us permission to pray honestly during seasons that feel overwhelming or hopeless. We don’ need to hide our  despair from God. Psalm 103 reminds us that God’s love is massive. He knows us and He is not shocked or disappointed by human weakness. Psalm 104 helps us remember the beauty of creation. The springs, the mountains, the animals, the cycles of day and night… everything depends on Him.