The prayer of destitute
[Psalms 102]
During the Bible study last Sunday about “Spiritual War”, one of the church members shared the word of Matthew 5:3 as he was studying the subject ‘When we face inner temptations”: “"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As he shared this word, he said that we must empty our hearts. When I thought about the temptation inside, the reason why I couldn’t resist the temptation is because I didn’t empty my heart. For example, I had lunch with Pastor Gomez, the pastor of Hispanic Ministry today, and we had some conversations about the inner temptation of a leader in the mission field. The inner temptation is pride and greed. What is the problem? It's because we didn’t empty our hearts. How is your heart? Let's take a look inside us. What is it filled with? Is it filled with the love of the Lord or with hatred and envy? Is it filled with humility or pride? Is it being filled with the Word of God? When I thought about the words of Psalms 102, I personally came to think of the necessity of spiritual need. In other words, I thought about the need that I should be hungry for listening to the Word of God. I want to listen, learn, and meditate on His Word with a poor spirit. And I want to cry out to God with the poor spirit. Therefore, I want to fill my heart with the Word of God.
This is what the psalmist says in Psalms 102:17 – “He has regarded the prayer of the destitute And has not despised their prayer.” I would like to think about two things under the heading “Prayer of the destitute” based on Psalms 102.
First, what is “the destitute”?
The destitute refers to ‘a saint who suffers’ (Park). When we look at Psalms 41:1, the word “the helpless” comes out. Here, the helpless refer to “the poor (Exod. 30:15), the ill (Gen. 41:19), and the weak (2 Sam. 13:4) (Park). Putting all these meanings together, “the helpless” refers to ‘all those who suffer under God's discipline’ (Calvin). Those who suffer under God's discipline are the helpless (those who cannot do anything by themselves, those who are helpless). This Hebrew word is translated “poor” or “weak” in other Bible passages. This refers to a person who is lowered out of economic poverty, that is, a person who is in a lower position and is prone to oppression. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14, the Bible describes how this helpless is described as “the timid” and “the weak”. This “helpless” is similar to “the destitute” in Psalms 102:17. In other words, the helpless and the destitute refer to those who suffer under God's discipline. This destitute man, the psalmist, prayed earnestly to God in Psalms 102.
What kind of suffering did this destitute was going through that he earnestly prayed to God? It is difficult to know who wrote this psalm, but it is certain that the author wrote this psalm from the Babylonian captivity, longing for the restoration of Jerusalem (Park). In other words, the suffering of the destitute refers to the suffering of Babylonian captivity. Because of that suffering, the destitute was weakened in body (v. 3), and his heart was smitten like grass (v. 4). Also, the destitute was in a very lonely situation (vv. 6-9). The “pelican” and “owl” in verse 6 symbolize loneliness. In other words, the believers are often in solitude (v. 7) (Park). Through such a gap of loneliness and anxiety, the psalmist, who was the destitute, his enemy struck him. To make matters worse, this was his hardship (Park). The most painful thing for the psalmist who was in such a hardship was written in verse 10: “Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and cast me away.” The psalmist knew that because of God's wrath, the Israelites were being held captive in Babylon and were suffering. The cause was, of course, the sins of the Israelites.
Aren't we the destitute? Aren’t we suffering under God's discipline for our sins? Haven’t our body and mind weakened because of the suffering? Aren’t we in a lonely position? In the meantime, aren't we suffering more and more from the people who afflict us who make the matter worse? If we are suffering this pain, this is a great opportunity for us to pray. Like the destitute in Psalms 102, we must seek God earnestly. We must pray earnestly to God.
Second, how was the prayer of the destitute?
We can think in two ways:
(1) The first thing I want to think about is ‘the prayer attitude of the destitute’.
In one word, the prayer attitude of the destitute can be said to be the assurance of salvation. In other words, the psalmist prayed and hoped to God because he was convinced that God would deliver the Israelites from captivity in Babylon. This is a belief from God.
(a) The cause of this belief is based on God's eternal existence.
Look at Psalms 102:12 – “But You, O LORD, abide forever, And Your name to all generations.” When we come to know that God lives forever, we come to the conviction that everything will be solved (Park). The psalmist had the confidence that the living and eternal God would fulfill the word of His promise according to the revealed word of truth. With that confidence, he prayed earnestly to God.
(b) The reason for this belief is because the Lord will arise and have compassion on Zion (v. 13).
In other words, the assurance of salvation for the destitute is based on God's compassion. Look at verse 13:
“You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.” Knowing that God would have compassion on Israel (“Zion”), the psalmist was convinced that God would save the Israelites at His appointed time. The reason why the psalmist knew that God would be compassion to the Israelites was because he saw that Israel repented and admired the formerly precious “Zion,” the church, and found pleasure in the stones and dust there (v. 14) (Park).
We must also have this assurance of salvation. As we pray to God, we must believe and ask God that God is eternal and that He will deliver us no matter what afflictions we may face because He is compassionate to His Church. In particular, in verse 16, we can pray to God with faith because our Lord built “Zion,” that is, His church, and will appear in His glory. God looks down on His people (v. 19) and frees us by ‘hearing the groaning of the prisoner’ (v. 20). What is its purpose? The purpose is to make His people proclaim the glory of God and serve Him (v. 21).
(2) The second thing I want to think about is ‘the contents of the prayers of the destitute’.
(a) The first prayer of the destitute was to prolong his life.
Look at Psalms 102:23-24: “He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days. I say, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are throughout all generations.’” Since the psalmist was going through the miserable suffering in which he was in the midst of weakness in body, mind, and in many ways, he asked God to restore his weak mind and body to health and save him from early death (vv. 3-11, Park).
(b) The second prayer of the destitute was to ask that the Lord's descendants would always exist and stand firm before the Lord.
Look at Psalms 102:28 – “The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You.” While praying to God, the destitute psalmist not only prayed for God's help to heal his weak mind and body and save him from early death, but also prayed for God's people to be eternal. He was able to pray that way because he believed in God's eternity. The psalmist prayed to God with faith, convinced that because of the eternal God, the church, the body of the Lord whom He loved, would survive forever.
As I meditated on the prayer of this destitute psalmist, I came to think of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. What was the prayer of Jesus, who was very distressed and troubled (Mk. 14:33), whose soul was deeply grieved to the point of death (v. 34) and who knew that His disciples would abandon him (v. 27)? His prayer was “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will” (v. 36). In the end, He died on the cross for our salvation as the Father's will. And as He was dying, He cried in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (15:34). Because Jesus was forsaken by His Heavenly Father, eternal life was given to us through His death. The Lord's church became eternal through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, as the heavenly people who are moving toward the eternal heaven, we must offer the prayers of the destitute like Jesus to Heavenly Father on this wilderness journey. No matter what kind of suffering and affliction we may be in, we must pray earnestly with the assurance of salvation to the eternal God who is rich in mercy. God will make us to live with the Lord in Heaven forever.
Wanting to become the destitute man of prayer,
James Kim
(After singing the hymn “I Can Hear My Savior Calling” during the Wednesday night prayer meeting)