Sometimes you are more in need than at other times. Or at least that’s the way it seems. The truth is we are dependent one hundred percent of the time. However, there are times we feel it deeply.
“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!” Psalm 102:1-2
In those times of need we fall before the Lord and beseech him to hear our desperate cries. We plead that he doesn’t turn his face away. We ask for nearness—incline your ear to me. We ask urgently—speedily answer me.
In those desperate times we know our lives are like smoke and our heart is struck down. It withers like grass. We forget to eat, and, when we do eat, it taste like ashes mingled with tears. We moan in pain. Sleep escapes us, and we are taunted by brokenness.
We feel as if we are under God’s punishment. Thrown down.
“But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.” Psalm 102:12
We turn and cry out to and pray to God because he is on a throne. He is enduring. To know he is enthroned forever is faith-building. And yet, he inclines his ear to us. He stoops down. He is a God who answers and gives favor at the appropriate time.
“Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.” Psalm 102:15
Our God of glory is not ours alone. He is God of all the earth. That’s what it means to be enthroned forever. He is the God of all nations and all generations. He gives attention to desperate prayers, and he does not despise those prayers.
“Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord…” Psalm 102:18
I am enthused with joy as I realize these very words were recorded for me and all others yet to be born so that we would lift our voices in adoring praise. Our God of heaven looked down from his holy place upon us on the earth. He hears our groans and gives us reason to turn to him and cry out. As we cry out to him, we turn and declare praise to his name as our Lord. Increasingly, people will gather to worship him as the church grows.
But here in this temporal moment we have pain, and we need to cry out to our enthroned Lord. He endures throughout all generations.
“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Psalm 102:25
God laid the foundations of earth. The heavens are his design. The temporal will perish and wear out like a robe. The immutable God is enduring while everything else is temporal. Again, this is why we turn to him and cry for him to incline his ear to our prayer.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Our God is true and does not change. His years had no beginning and have no end. Therefore, we dwell upon an immovable foundation. The family of faith is firmly established.
“…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.” Psalm 102:27-28
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“Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord…” Psalm 102:18
I agree with you; it’s exciting to think that this passage (and all of scripture) was written for us – for a people yet to be born.
I have a question for you…how important do you think it is for us to “cry aloud” when we pray?
Yes, Greg…it is exciting.
In answer to your question, there are times when inspiration or emotion rises to a point where we must cry out. I would add there are two directions, primarily, that this can come from. It is entirely appropriate to cry out in deep and unimaginable pain–I learned to lament on this journey. It is likewise appropriate to cry out in ecstatic joy–I’ve been unable to stop my self from singing out “For the Beauty of the Earth” at times as I look at created wonder.