Psalms 102:1-28

Lord, listen to my prayer! Listen to my cry for help! You can’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Stoop down to hear my prayer and answer me quickly, Lord! For my days of happiness have gone up in smoke. My body is raging with fever, my heart is sick, and I’m consumed by this illness— withered like a dead leaf. I can’t even eat. I’m nothing but skin and bones. Nothing’s left of me but whispered groans. I’m like a pelican of the wilderness, like an owl among the ruins. I’m sleepless, shivering in the cold, forlorn, and friendless, like a lonely bird on the rooftop. My every enemy mocks and insults me incessantly. They even use my name as a curse to speak over others! Because of your great and furious anger against me, all I do is suffer with sorrow, with nothing to eat but a meal of mourning. My crying fills my cup with salty tears! In your wrath you have rejected me, sweeping me away like dirt on the floor. My days are marked by the lengthening shadows of death. I’m withering away and there’s nothing left of me. But then I remember that you, O Lord, still sit enthroned as King over all! The fame of your name will be revealed to every generation. I know you are about to arise and show your tender love to Zion. Now is the time, Lord, for your compassion and mercy to be poured out— the appointed time has come for your prophetic promises to be fulfilled! For your servants weep in sympathy over Zion’s ruins and feel love for her every stone. When you arise to intervene, all the nations and kings will be stunned and will fear your awesome name, trembling before your glory! Yes, you will reveal yourself to Zion and appear in the brightness of your glory to restore her and give her children. He responds to the prayer of the poor and broken and will not despise the cry of the homeless. Write all this down for the coming generation, so re-created people will read it and praise the Lord! Tell them how Yah looked down from his high and holy place, gazing from his glory to survey the earth. He listened to all the groaning of his people longing to be free, and he set loose the sons of death to experience life. Multitudes will stream to Jerusalem to praise the Lord and declare his name in Zion! Peoples from every land, their kings and kingdoms, will gather together to worship the Lord. But God has brought me to my knees, shortening my life. So I cry out to you, my God, Father of eternity, please don’t let me die! I know my life is not yet finished. With your hands you once formed the foundations of the earth and handcrafted the heavens above. They will all fade away one day like worn-out clothing, ready to be discarded, but you’ll still be here. You will replace it all! Your first creation will be changed, but you alone will endure, the God of all eternity! Generation after generation our descendants will live securely, for you are the one protecting us, keeping us for yourself.