Today’s passage: Psalm 102
Helpful thoughts:
- This is a psalm of lament. The writer is suffering, crying out to God, and striving to see their suffering in the context of God’s purposes in eternity.
- Verse 10 could be an acknowledgment of personal sin and its consequences or perhaps a simple awareness that everything is under God’s control. Either way, the psalmist is aware that God is sovereign and can make the suffering stop and has chosen to allow it to continue.
- Our sufferings and our successes come and go. We change frequently (And by God’s grace, we progressively become more like Christ). But, God never changes. He is the same forever.
- Our hope in the future does not rest in the faithfulness of man. What hope would that be?
- Our hope in the future depends on the immutability of God. He is good. His promises are sure.
Questions to consider:
- Did anything the psalmist write surprise you? Was there anything you might think twice about before saying it to God? What does the presence of lament in Scripture teach us about our ability to approach the Lord and His patience with us in our suffering?
- If we are thinking of something critical or despairing and instead of saying it, we pray a peaceful happy prayer, is God not aware of what is in our hearts? What does being honest with God do for our own souls and thinking process?
- Why is the immutability of God (God never changes) such an important doctrine? How does it make Him different than us? How does it ground our hope and faith?