GROANS FROM OUR BONES

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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! Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. 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. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. 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.
Psalm 102:1‭-‬2‭, ‬5‭-‬8‭, ‬18‭-‬22 ESV

¶The groanings of this psalm distill our own life's sufferings. The psalm exquisitely expresses and intensifies the anguish we feel in this life. Yet it is given, it is intended, to acknowledge and preserve for the generations our lot in life, our share in the sufferings of this world, our place in God's creation, and eventually, somehow, to lead us together to worship the Lord. The psalmist moves from a lonely and deserted place to a festal gathering before the Lord. Wait for it. Be ready. Know God's word. Love His people.

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