A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM CII.
_The prophet in his prayer maketh a grievous complaint.—He taketh comfort in the eternity and mercy of God.—The mercies of God are to be recorded.—He sustaineth his weakness by the unchangeableness of God._ A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day _when_ I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day _when_ I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; _and_ they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping; Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days _are_ like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations. Thou shalt arise, _and_ have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death; To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years _are_ throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens _are_ the work of thy hands.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou _art_ the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. This Psalm is a prayer of an afflicted and tempted heart, miserably sighing and praying for deliverance and the coming of the kingdom of God. And indeed the whole sum and substance of this Psalm is, “Thy kingdom come.” This Psalm may be used as a general prayer. It was used especially by the fathers under the law: who being most spiritual men, and knowing the infinite weight of sin, and the kingdom of death, longed for the coming and revelation of Christ, the kingdom of grace, and the blessing promised.
“Have mercy upon Zion (saith the Psalmist) for the time to have mercy upon her is come.” For thy servants (saith he) long for her to be built up again, and for the stones and cement to be made ready: that is, they long for that grace and that blessing to be revealed unto all nations, and to be preached in all kingdoms; that those who are captives and in chains under the power of the devil and of sin, and who are the sons of wrath and death, may be delivered; and that there may flow together into the true Zion, the church of God, those out of all nations and kingdoms, who may magnify the name of the Lord, and may preach and hear the gospel, and that all the rigid demands and ceremonies of the law, and the whole of the Old Testament dispensation, may cease. For out of and without Christ there is nothing but the kingdom of sin and death: that is, a continual misery and distress in this life, by various and hard temptations of the devil and the world: and also a shortness of life itself, and that life changeable and uncertain, full of sorrow and full of death; which life the godly consider it a “gain” to have shortened and finished: as the apostle saith, “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
But amidst all this misery, in Christ is consolation and eternal life; for he is before every creature; he created the heaven and the earth, and by him all things consist; and he also, in the regeneration, will renew the heavens and the earth. Hence he is independent of and above all time and years, and of his years there is no end. He now dies no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For this kingdom of life and of salvation (saith the Psalmist) we pray and long. May this kingdom come. Amen.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.