August 14, 2020

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
    so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height,
    from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to set free those who were doomed to die;
21 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,
    and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 when peoples gather together,
    and kingdoms, to worship the Lord. – Psalm 102:18-22

I have read many of the lamenting psalms during this time apart from one another.  There have been some days, more than others, that I truly felt the pain and anguish in the voice of the one lamenting to God. 

Today’s psalm is another lament, praying to God for help in a time of affliction. In the heart of the psalmist we find feelings of loneliness, abandonment, and anguish.  However, the psalmist has a hope of a king that is eternal that will one day offer help.  I am particularly drawn today to the section posted above.  The psalmist, in his own anguish, hopes for the future generations, that they would praise the Lord.

This is perhaps one of the greatest hopes that we can have. Even though the psalmists is feeling abandoned by God, even though the opening words of the psalm are a cry for help from God, whom they do not feel present in their lives at that moment, the plea is that future generations would praise the God who is eternal.

It is amazing to think of a faith that looks beyond ourselves, it is the faith that we profess as Christians today. That we would serve a God who binds us together as one, who holds us a sheep unto his fold, and who calls us to be equal heirs to the kingdom of his only son.  Yet, this God for many is distant, is absent, is not there in their greatest struggle.  However, for those who have faith, they know it is not God who has strayed, but themselves.  Even if God doesn’t answer their prayers, or give an answer that they desire, they will continue to praise God, for God’s ways are above our ways.  Even more, we seek that others who come after us would know that hope of God’s eternal love, to know the salvation that awaits those who trust in God’s grace, and believe in God’s mercy.

May we so order our lives that even if God doesn’t answer us, we would desire for the generations yet unborn to believe with greater faith, in the one who is, and was, and is to come.

Grace & Peace,
Sam