Jason Forbes
Disability Advocate
Psalm 102 reflects the thoughts of someone who is extremely distressed, and possibly even depressed. Because of this distress he turns to the Lord (vv. 1–2). The first source of distress appears to be of a personal nature with the Psalmist using the first-person singular pronoun repeatedly. The Psalmist mentions his days, bones, heart, and groaning (vv. 3–5). The comparisons of himself to a desert owl and a lonely sparrow reflect feelings of disenfranchisement (v. 6). The absence of pleasure in his life reflected a futility and meaninglessness to his life (vv. 7–11).
When we experience disorder, we feel disenfranchised, disconnected, and isolated. Whether it be the loss of a job, breakdown of a relationship, compromised health, financial trouble, the separation of death, ongoing disrespect from colleagues and ridicule from opposition, or simply because our day hasn’t met our expectations, these are experiences of disorder. When the experience of disorder is profound, life can seem meaningless and futile. This is when we need to start looking for order.
This is precisely what the Psalmist does by reflecting on the work the Lord is doing in the nation (vv. 12–24). The Lord has caused his people to remember him (v. 12) and are subjects of his mercy (vv. 13–14). Because of the Lord’s mercy on Israel, other nations will recognise the Lord and will see his glory among his people (v. 15). From this, the Psalmist has hope that those who are oppressed will be liberated (vv. 16–23) and courage to petition the Lord not to take him in the midst of his days (v. 24). When things are going wrong, there are always things going right. This is especially true for those who trust in the Lord. But we need to be diligent in calling these things to mind.
Yet the Psalmist remembers not only what the Lord is doing, he remembers what the Lord has done. He remembers how through his creative acts God brought order from disorder (v. 25). As great as the work of creation was, the Psalmist is aware that this is only temporal (v. 26). Not that the Lord has changed, but the Lord is doing an even greater work among his people (v. 28). The Psalmist recognises that God is engaged in an ongoing work of creation to bring his people from disorder to order. For this reason, the Psalmist has hope that even in his personal life, God can create order from disorder.
So, while we experience disorder, we need to remember that God is at work to create an even greater order. We also need to remember that the order we do experience is often temporal. It may be the order that we do experience is what we need at a particular place and time, but it was only a stopover. There is a much greater order that we are destined for, and there will be other stopovers we need to make along the way. But we can have confidence in God that he will bring us to our final destination because of what he is doing now, and what he has done in the past.
