1021 God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries. 2 Don't turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately. Pay attention! This is a cry for help! And hurry - this can't wait! 3 I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever. 4 I'm a ghost of my former self, half-consumed already by terminal illness. 5 My jaws ache from gritting my teeth; I'm nothing but skin and bones. 6 I'm like a buzzard in the desert, a crow perched on the rubble. 7 Insomniac, I twitter away, mournful as a sparrow in the gutter. 8 All day long my enemies taunt me, while others just curse. 9 They bring in meals - casseroles of ashes! I draw drink from a barrel of my tears. 10 And all because of your furious anger; you swept me up and threw me out. 11 There's nothing left of me - a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 102:1-11
Commentary on Psalm 102:1-11
(Read Psalm 102:1-11)
The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, is often elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has put words into our mouths. Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted; let them present it to God. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with afflictions. It is our duty and interest to pray; and it is comfort to an afflicted spirit to unburden itself, by a humble representation of its griefs. We must say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes away. The psalmist looked upon himself as a dying man; My days are like a shadow.