Show Don't Tell: Psalm 102

Instead of saying "The psalmist suffered while trusting God's eternal nature," feel the bones burn. A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the LORD. "Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly." Face hidden, ear needed. "For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my anguish I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones." Days like smoke, bones like embers, heart like withered grass, body wasting. "I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof." Three bird images—desert owl, ruins owl, rooftop bird. Alone. "All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside." Ashes for food, tears in drink, thrown aside by God. "My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass." But then the turn: "But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations." He withers, God endures. "You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity." Loving Zion's rubble. "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD."