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Psalms 102
1Hear my prayer, LORD! Let my cry come to you.
2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
3For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
4My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.
5By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.
6I am like a pelican of . I have become as an owl of the waste places.
7I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
8My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.
9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
10because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
11My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
12But you, LORD, will remain forever; your renown endures to all generations.
13You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
14For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust.
15So the nations will fear the LORD’s name, all the of the earth your glory.
16For the LORD has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.
17He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.
18This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the LORD,
19for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the LORD saw the earth,
20to hear the groans of the prisoner, to free those who are condemned to death,
21that men may declare the LORD’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
22when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days.
24I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
25Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
26They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
27But you are the same. Your years will have no end.
28The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you.”
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Questions this passage answers
Who is God?
God is the one living Creator who made everything and depends on nothing, and Scripture answers this question mainly by telling us his character rather than by defining his substance. When God described himself to Moses he said he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, and yet will by no means clear the guilty. The New Testament adds that this God is finally known in Jesus Christ, who has made him known.
Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible was written by many human authors over a long period, and Scripture presents itself as God-breathed rather than as human opinion. Some books name their writer, some do not, and honest study says which is which. Paul calls every Scripture God-breathed, and Peter says no prophecy came by the will of man but that people spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, which is the Bible's own account of how both authors are involved at once.
Can the Bible be trusted?
Scripture claims to be true and invites examination rather than avoiding it. It says God's word is truth and that it stands when everything else fades, and the New Testament writers appeal to eyewitnesses, named places and public events rather than to private experience. Trust in Scripture is finally trust in the God who speaks in it, and the clearest reason a Christian gives for that trust is that Jesus treated these writings as God's own word.
How should I pray?
When the disciples asked this, Jesus answered with a pattern rather than a technique. Pray to your Father, in private, without performance and without needing many words, because he already knows what you need. The prayer he gave begins with God's name, kingdom and will, then asks for bread, forgiveness and protection. Scripture adds that we may bring everything, that the Spirit helps our weakness, and that we can ask with confidence when we ask according to God's will.