Suffering can be a lonely experience. When we’re sick or hurting or scared it’s easy for us to turn inward. Our frame of reference contracts, as our only concern is getting some relief. When the psalmist was in this kind of pain, he even forgot to eat (verse 4), and he felt like a lonely bird perched on a rooftop (verse 7).

When we find ourselves in this kind of funk, we need to get out of ourselves, and that involves bringing God into the picture. Of course, thinking about God while we are suffering can raise some difficult questions. After all, if He is powerful enough to answer our prayers (verses 1,2, and 17), then why does He let us get into these situations in the first place? The psalmist is not afraid to confront this reality – in fact, he admits that God is sovereign even over his suffering and pain: “Thou has lifted me up and cast me away. My days are like a lengthened shadow; And I wither away like grass” (verses 10-11).

But it is only if we confess God’s absolute authority that we can have any confidence in prayer. For only a God of unimaginable power could create the heavens and the earth out of nothing (verse 25). Only such a God can abide forever (verses 12, 27), so we can be sure that His promises can never fail.

So, when this God promises to be gracious to His people (verse 13), we can take comfort in the certainty of His blessings. When this God promises to hear the prayers of the poor (verse 17), we can pray with all the more confidence. When this God promises to redeem us even from the power of death itself (verse 20), we have no reason to fear even hurricanes or tornadoes or mysterious viruses.

So it is only this God Who deserves all our praise, whether we are in COVID quarantine, or gathered for worship and service (verses 21-22). And we can be confident that, because of Who God is, His praise will indeed endure to all generations (verse 12).

Psalm 102 (NASB)

A Prayer of the Afflicted, when he is faint, and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to Thee.
2 Do not hide Thy face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Thine ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly.
3 For my days have been consumed in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4 My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the loudness of my groaning My bones cling to my flesh.
6 I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
7 I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping,
10 Because of Thine indignation and Thy wrath; For Thou hast lifted me up and cast me away.
11 My days are like a lengthened shadow; And I wither away like grass.
12 But Thou, O LORD, dost abide forever; And Thy name to all generations.
13 Thou wilt arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Thy servants find pleasure in her stones, And feel pity for her dust.
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, And all the kings of the earth Thy glory.
16 For the LORD has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute, And has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come; That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
19 For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; To set free those who were doomed to death;
21 That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days.
24 I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Thy years are throughout all generations.
25 “Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
26 “Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed.
27 “But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end.
28 “The children of Thy servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before Thee.”