This prayer comes with a heading: “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.” How appropriate for us in light of the COVID-19 “affliction,” when even God’s people are feeling “faint.” I’m glad there is a proper way to “complain” or lament that God doesn’t despise. We know God “loathed” his people who complained in the wilderness, because they complained out of unbelief (Psalm 95:10). Here the writer’s lament flows from a faith that is firmly rooted in God’s eternal sovereignty, stability & endurance and his commitment to the welfare & security of his people (12, 26-28). I can’t remember ever feeling as low or distressed as this writer. He is distressed physically (3, 5), emotionally & mentally (4-9), and socially (8). He feels “taken up & thrown down” by God himself (10b) and understands the brevity & frailty of his life (11). He attributes his experience to God’s “indignation & anger” (10a), but I don’t think he feels such wrath directed to him personally but rather to his beloved Zion (Jerusalem) (13, 15). This psalm was probably written after the destruction of Jerusalem & the temple. Yet it looks to the future when “nations will fear the name of Yahweh and all the kings of the earth will fear [his] glory” (15). This is what I call God’s Plan A. It’s repeated again in verse 22. The application is so pertinent for today as we find ourselves distressed much like the psalmist, although for an obvious different reason. But I don’t need to feel distressed spiritually, if I keep my eyes focused clearly on the One who is “enthroned forever” (12), who “endures throughout all generations” (22) and is “the same” with unending years (27). Who is this? None other than Jesus Christ according to Hebrews 13:8. In fact, the writer of Hebrews attributes parts of this psalm to Jesus, the Son of God, in Hebrews 1:10-12. So, this is a Messianic Psalm that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. It is Christ who will build up Zion (his people) and appear in glory to them (2 Thessalonians 1:10). Christ will fulfill God’s Plan A and is even now doing so as the gospel spreads throughout the world like a virus – from one person to another, from one generation to the next (18). It’s HIS children that will “dwell secure” and “be established” as long as God himself (28). Now, THAT’S true inoculation from the distresses of life.
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