“Wavering much?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, May 17, 2024
Psalm 102 (Forward, p. 19) CEV p. 617
In today’s psalm, its author is ‘all over the place’ emotionally and logically, but, really, should that come as a surprise with someone who is suffering so grievously and who is so obviously distraught. His ailments are many and varied:
-they are physical: his health is ‘the pits’
“My days disappear like smoke, and my bones are burning as though in a furnace. 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 3-5).
-they are psychological:
“I am like a lonely owl in the desert or a restless sparrow along on a roof (verses 6-7).
-they are social: he has enemies, vicious enemies, on every side:
“My enemies insult me all day, and they use my name for a curse word” (verse 8).
-they are spiritual: he feels as if he has been deserted by God and punished by Him:
“Instead of food, I have ashes to eat and tears to drink, because you are furious and have thrown me aside. My life fades like a shadow at the end of the day and withers like grass” (verses 9-11).
“I should still be strong, but you, Lord, have made an old person of me” (verse 23).
-they are communal: apparently even Jerusalem is in ruins:
“You will show pity to Zion because the time has come. We, your servants, love each stone in the city, and we are sad to see them lying in the dirt” (verses 13-14).
It is interesting—and rather informative—that despite his feelings of dereliction and depression—and seeming desertion by God, our psalmist does not give up on God. He expects that God will ‘come through’ anyway, and so he reminds God of His past help and calls upon Him to come to his rescue once again. May we, each of us in our own way, do the same: that no matter what we are going through, or the world is going through, we can still call on God and expect His help and His deliverance. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Forward notes: “He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless; he will not despise their plea” (verse 17).
“I live in a city with a large and visible population of chronically unhoused people, the result of an expensive and limited housing market as well as other issues. Oftentimes, I pray Morning Prayer with a podcast while I am walking my dog, and this verse from the psalms takes on new significance when I walk by tents on the sidewalk or people sleeping on cardboard in doorways.
“Homelessness feels like an overwhelming and intractable issue, and it can be difficult to know what to do to try to address it. Faith communities and other organizations work to meet both the immediate needs of unhoused people and fix the structures that lead to homelessness. The reminder that God not only hears the prayer of our unhoused neighbour but also looks with favour on it does not absolve me of responsibility but leads me to the hope that I might, in some small way, be the answer to the prayer of my neighbour.”
Moving Forward: “Research the efforts in your community to support the unhoused. How can you help?”