“Calamities galore”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Friday, August 16, 2024

Psalm 102 (Forward, p. 18) CEV p. 617

Today’s psalmist seems like one of those unfortunate individuals who appear to have troubles heaped upon troubles, plagued with calamities galore. In his case, his own personal issues, of which there are many, are compounded by those within his society, his wider sphere. But first of all, his personal troubles:

-his infirmities, which include pain and a loss of appetite:

“My days disappear like smoke, and my bones are burning as though in a furnace” (verse 3).

“I am wasting away like grass and my appetite is gone. My groaning never stops, and my bones can be seen through my skin” (verses 4-5).

“My life fades like a shadow at the end of day and withers like grass” (verse 11).

-his sense of isolation and aloneness:

“I am like a lonely owl in the desert or a restless sparrow alone on a roof” (verses 6-7).

-his experience of being attacked by enemies:

“My enemies insult me all day, and they use my name for a curse word” (verse 8).

-and probably worst of all, his sense of being attacked or deserted by

God:

“Instead of food, I have ashes to eat and tears to drink, because you are furious and have thrown me aside” (verses 9-10).

But, on top of this—as if this wasn’t bad enough—there is the state of Jerusalem itself, which is in ruins: ‘each stone in the city…lying in the dirt’ (verse 14).

And yet, despite these feelings of despair, depression and dereliction, our psalmist still feels fit to petition God for help. He doesn’t give up on God, even though he feels that God is at least partially to blame for his problems. Surely, that is an example for all of us, an inspiration, to go to God no matter what is happening in us or in the world around us.

Forward notes: “He has brought down my strength before my time; he has shortened the number of my days; And I said, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; your years endure throughout all generations’” (verses 23-24)

“Most of us have come to expect that we will live for a certain number of years. We plan for retirement and qualify for life insurance.

“My 89-year-old mother passed away last year after a slow decline in and out of rehab clinics. We celebrated her life and accepted the inevitable end. Several years earlier, we were devastated to lose my sister to cancer. She was 63. Every anniversary of her passing, we grieve, feeling cheated that the number of her days was shortened.

“I thank God that I do not know the number of my days or when my strength will be brought down. I fear that I would forget to live in the present if I knew when my time on earth would end. We have no right to a long life, only a responsibility to live the one we have. Only by grace do we live out our days, and by that same grace, we meet our Maker.

Moving Forward: “Have you done the important work of grieving a loss? Do you need help getting back to the present?”